Twitch streams about "political and sensitive issues" including "reproductive and LGBTQ+ rights" now require a label

UPDATE 5/11/24: Twitch has updated its controversial rules around labelling streams that focus on "political and sensitive issues", after its earlier statement laying out new requirements raised eyebrows.

In an update posted last night, on the eve of the US presidential election, Twitch said it had "made some updates" to its "policy language to better clarify what needs a 'Politics and Sensitive Social Issues' Content Classification Label (CCL)."

Twitch previously described the kinds of "Sensitive Social Issues" that would warrant its warning label as including discussions about religion, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights and immigration. Now, Twitch has said it wanted to make clear that labels would not apply if a streamer is discussing their "lived experience", or if discussion of these topics isn't the "focus" of the stream.

Why is Twitch so keen for streamers to label their broadcasts? The company says it wants both viewers and brands - in other words, companies who spend money to advertise on the platform - to have better visibility on what a streamer might discuss.

"Our goal here, as with any CCL, is to give viewers and brands more info about what's happening on a particular stream," Twitch said, "so that they can make an informed decision about what to watch and where to engage".

ORIGINAL STORY 2/11/24: Twitch has tightened its rules around broadcasts that include debates about "political" and "sensitive social issues".

In a statement, Twitch said that whilst it is a place "for people to express themselves and discuss the world around them", from now on, any stream that includes discussions about war, religion, or "reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, or immigration" needs to be labelled.

"Twitch is a place for people to express themselves and discuss the world around them," Twitch explained.

"We require streams to be labelled when the focus of the stream includes discussions and debates about political or sensitive social issues such as discussions about elections, civic integrity, war or military conflict, and civil rights."

Examples of content that require a classification label include streams featuring former or current political officials if the content includes discussions with these individuals around public policies, live coverage or commentary on elections, civic processes, or election-related disputes, and livestreams of protests, rallies, or civil unrest related to civil rights issues or government policies.

Also subject to further labelling are discussions about military conflicts, foreign policy decisions, or national security matters, and discussing ideological or socio-political views on topics like gender, race, sexuality, or religion.

"Discussing legislation related to a sensitive social issue such as reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, or immigration" is also subject to labels.

"Streams containing informational or educational content that aim to share knowledge in a neutral, fact-based manner, rather than engaging in any kind of advocacy for an issue or candidate" are not subject to labelling, however.

"For example, sharing the history of how votes in the US presidential election are counted to determine the next President, or merely encouraging individuals to vote or register to vote," Twitch explained. "Intermittent mentions of politics, politicians, or sensitive social issues are not required to have the Politics and Sensitive Social Issues label."

The changes come after a trying few weeks for the livestreaming giant, which has found itself fielding accusations of islamophobia and anti-semitism.

"There is no place on Twitch for racism, hatred, or harassment of any kind, including antisemitism and Islamophobia," CEO Dan Clancy said in a complementary statement. "As our community has grown, we’ve endeavoured to build Community Guidelines to prohibit these harms."

"Twitch is, and will always be, about belonging. Each day, people come together on our service to build communities around shared interests, and to express themselves authentically. For this to be possible, we work hard to ensure that our community is a safe place."

"Millions of streamers, with a wide variety of views and perspectives, spend time on Twitch. We recognise that some content, while allowed on our service, may be objectionable to some members of our community. The views shared by streamers on Twitch are not the views of Twitch nor are they my personal views."We're grateful for the feedback and input from our community," Clancy concluded. "Our safety approach continues to build and evolve, as our service grows. We want to ensure that anyone can find their place on Twitch, and remain committed to ensuring that hate and harassment have no place here."

Last week, Twitch issued an apology for preventing new account sign-ups from Israel and Palestine due to the ongoing conflict. It said sign-ups were temporarily disabled following the attacks on 7th October 2023 to "prevent uploads of graphic material related to the attack and to protect the safety of users". However, until recently, this verification had not been re-enabled.