Twitch clarifies its rules to curb sexual harassment and updates the AutoMod moderation tool

MADRID, (Portaltic/EP). – Twitch has updated its content moderation policy with the aim of curbing sexual harassment on the platform, making its regulations easier to understand, and announcing a new feature in the AutoMod moderation tool.

The company stressed that “sexual harassment is never okay or acceptable” and that it harms its community, as it can make people “feel unsafe and disrespected,” which can lead them to stop using Twitch.

In order to curb this type of behavior, it has made a series of clarifications to its usage regulations, with new policies designed to be easier for users to understand.

First, it has acknowledged that for its sexual harassment policy to be effective, there must be “a common understanding” of what sexual harassment is and how it manifests, so it has eliminated ambiguous terms defining it to avoid confusion.

Firstly, she stated that she defines sexual harassment as “the set of non-physical behaviours of a sexual nature that make users feel uncomfortable, degraded, unsafe or discouraged from participating”, as she explained on her blog.

It prohibits unwanted comments, including those that use only emojis, and those that relate to someone’s body or appearance. It also prohibits sexual requests or innuendos, sexual objectification, and perceived sexual statements or activities from a person, regardless of their gender.

Twitch also noted that it does not allow non-consensual intimate images or videos to be recorded or shared “under any circumstances.” It also said it has the power to report them to law enforcement.

The group also encouraged users to use the available moderation tools if they find themselves in any situation of harassment, including sexual harassment. In this regard, it pointed out that “a series of signals” will be taken into account, such as waiting time and channel blocking activity, as well as reports submitted by these people, to confirm whether these are unwanted or non-consensual comments.

Finally, it has announced an update to AutoMod to better combat sexual harassment. This is a moderation tool developed to proactively identify and limit the visibility of chat messages that may be harmful.

This means that if a streamer uses this solution on their channel, inappropriate communications will be neutralized before they are shown to other viewers in the chat and will be reviewed by content moderators. If they approve them, they will then be shown in the chat.

Twitch has also introduced a new AutoMod category to filter out chat messages that could be considered sexual harassment, providing “an additional layer of protection.”