Twitch Updates Its Guidelines To Be Stricter About Sexual Content

Less than a month after Patreon alarmed users by cracking down on NSFW art, Twitch has followed suit and updated its guidelines on what counts as banned sexual content.

Twitch announced the update on Tuesday, introducing rules that ban underboob ("exposed underbust") and require streamers to wear pants that cover “the area extending from your waist to the bottom of your pelvis and buttocks.” The guidelines also state, "For those who present as women, we ask that you cover your nipples," echoing Tumblr's 2018 ban on female-presenting nipples.

While the clearer guidelines on streamer nudity seem generally reasonable for a site that can be frequented by anyone, the updated guidelines also restrict content that can be considered less cut-and-dry territory. For example, Twitch now bans "suggestive framing," saying camera angles that “focus on breasts, buttocks, or pelvic region" and pole dancing with "sexually suggestive framing" is now banned.

The guidelines also extend into "fetishizing behavior or activity," which has concerned streamers who are unclear as to what that exactly means. Speaking to The Daily Dot, Twitch ambassador Nikatine said, “Some people are really into stuff like watching women smoke vapes--is that allowed, or is there gonna be a moratorium on women smoking vapes? There are people who are into every conceivable thing on the internet--how do you enforce such a nebulous term as ‘erotica’ or ‘Fetishising Behavior?’ It just seems like such a weird hill."

How these new rules are enforced remains to be seen, but they nevertheless remain part of a troubling pattern of social media sites clamping down on sexual content for those whose livelihoods come from promotion on these very sites.