Twitch is cracking down on sexual harassment in chats

Twitch has introduced new policy and moderation updates that aim to help curb sexual harassment. The streaming platform announced in a blog post that it has made its sexual harassment policy “easier to understand” by more clearly outlining prohibited conduct. Twitch’s moderation tools will now also allow streamers to more easily filter out inappropriate chat messages.

Twitch says the policy itself is “largely unchanged,” but now better defines what the Amazon-owned company considers sexual harassment — including “non-physical behaviors of a sexual nature” that would make users feel degraded, uncomfortable, or generally unwelcome on the platform.

“We prohibit unwanted comments — including comments made using emojis/emotes — regarding someone’s appearance or body, sexual requests or advances, sexual objectification, and negative statements or attacks related to a person’s perceived sexual behaviors or activities, regardless of their gender,” Twitch said. “We also do not tolerate the recording or sharing of non-consensual intimate images or videos under any circumstances, and may report such content to law enforcement.”

Image: Twitch

Twitch streamers who use AutoMod, the platform’s built-in autonomous moderation feature, can also now enable a new category that filters “unwelcome comments about someone’s appearance, sexual requests or advances, and sexual objectification.” Like the previous categories launched for aggression and bullying, users can customize how strict they want the moderation to be and decide whether to report the users behind the messages. The new AutoMod category is available in English for now, with additional language support in the pipeline.

These updates are being made after it was revealed that popular streamer Guy “Dr Disrespect” Beahm was banned from Twitch four years ago for using the platform’s now-defunct Whispers feature to send “inappropriate” messages to a minor. In general, female gamers still also disproportionately face abuse and sexual harassment from males online, with a Bryter survey finding that two in three experience toxic or threatening behavior, while over ten percent have received rape threats.