Twitch is making moves to prevent community harassment outside its platform via an update to its ‘Off-Service Conduct Policy’.
Throughout the pandemic, many gamers flocked to Twitch (the popular video game live streaming service) in droves. Gotta be more entertaining than some reality television offerings.
But with inappropriate behaviour not an entirely uncommon occurrence on the platform, in January Twitch started enforcing its ‘Hateful Conduct and Harassment policy’ to protect users.
Now the company is making moves to alter how it approaches misconduct that impacts the Twitch community off its platform. It’s being addressed via an update to the ‘ Off-Service Conduct Policy’.
The update, as picked up by IGN, is actually more of an expansion on what already existed, and will be broken down into two categories:
“Category one: Someone is harassed on Twitch, as well as off Twitch. When this happens, we will take into account verifiable, off-service behaviours or statements that relate to an incident that took place on Twitch. For example: if we’re reviewing a harassment report about an incident that happened live on stream, related or continued harassment on Twitter could be taken into account when reported to us. This is how our current off-service policy works in the vast majority of cases, and will not change.
Category two: We will now enforce against serious offenses that pose a substantial safety risk to the Twitch community, even if these actions occur entirely off Twitch.”
Love Gaming?
Get the latest Gaming news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
No idea what Twitch is? Check out the video below:
Examples for the second category include things like leading or being a member of a known hate group and threats of mass violence. To read up on the full list, you can check out the official blog post.
According to the blog, Twitch will be hiring a third-party investigative partner to support the team with any investigations that are raised due to the policy change.
Likewise, if you feel the need to report off-service misconduct by a member of the Twitch community, there is now a dedicated email address you can touch base with. That email is [email protected].
They’re positive steps that hopefully foster a more welcoming environment for gamers and Twitch users alike.
You can read more about this topic over at the Gaming Observer.
