Kaitlyn Leister
Associate Arts & Culture Editor
The popular live streaming platform Twitch has changed its policies regarding the Content Classification Labels for streams. The policy change was on Nov. 1, but the response to said new changes resulted in needed clarification just a few days later.
The old classifications rules, which have since been changed on the official company’s rules page, had one regulation for labeling that was the cause of needed explanation; “Discussing legislation related to a sensitive social issue such as reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, or immigration.”
Many streamers were wondering if just talking about personal experiences or their everyday life was now going to get them in trouble with the platform’s guidelines or get their content tagged and lose out on revenue and views. Especially with Twitch’s blog on said new rules discussing “Repeated failure to label content correctly may result in Twitch applying a label to your stream on your behalf that will be locked for a set period of time.”
Just three days after the initial announcement post Twitch’s support team on Nov. 4 on X stated “We want to make clear that you don’t need to label your stream if you’re talking about your lived experience. We’ve made this clearer in our CCL guidelines,…” The given reason for why this was done, the same tweet explains, “Our goal here, as with any CCL, is to give viewers and brands more info about what’s happening on a particular stream, so that they can make an informed decision about what to watch and where to engage.”
The line on legislation discussion has since been removed, with their previous line regarding talks about religion, race, sexuality, and gender being reworded to better convey the next label change. It now reads, “Streams focusing on discussing topics like gender, race, sexuality, or religion in a polarizing or inflammatory manner.”
The change in policy was brought on by Twitch attempting to resolve being under fire for Islamophobia and Antisemitism regarding the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict content streaming on the platform. The attempt to resolve a serious problem on the site has led to more problems arising.