Twitch has added new stipulations to its off-service conduct policies.
As detailed in a site update, the streaming service has made the decision to punish Twitch users for actions they take outside the platform.
To clarify, the company will only take action against cases of a severe nature, with its decision being driven by its desire to be a safe and inclusive place for people.
“We believe that the occurrence of severe offences committed by Twitch users that may take place entirely off-service can create a substantial safety risk to the Twitch community,” Twitch explained.
Those that are found to be in breach of the policy will face possible account suspensions, some of which may be permanent depending upon the behaviour in question.
Behave yourself
The offensive behaviours include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Deadly violence and violent extremism
- Terrorist activities or recruiting
- Explicit and/or credible threats of mass violence (i.e. threats against a group of people, event, or location where people would gather).
- Leadership or membership in a known hate group
- Carrying out or deliberately acting as an accomplice to non-consensual sexual activities and/or sexual assault
- Sexual exploitation of children, such as child grooming and solicitation/distribution of underage sexual materials
- Actions that would directly and explicitly compromise the physical safety of the Twitch community
- Explicit and/or credible threats against Twitch, including Twitch staff
“Because we have less context around behaviours that occur outside of Twitch, we generally require that evidence of these activities is verifiable before we will take action,” said Twitch.
“In most cases, this includes direct links to public posts or content directly uploaded by the infringing user.”
However, as Twitch explained, evidence such as screenshots will not prove sufficient given they can be tampered with.
Law enforcement may also become involved “when assessing the credibility of accusations and evidence.”
Safety first
Last month, Twitch made it clear that it intends to be more transparent with its safety efforts moving forward.
The streaming platform has committed to releasing two new transparency reports per year, providing data on safety and action taken to create a safer environment.
To crackdown on toxic behaviour, Twitch made amendments to its hateful conduct and harassment policies in late 2020. However, the changes did not come into effect until earlier this year.
