Recently, Twitch announced that it would changing its Terms of Service, mostly the “Hateful Speech” category. It announced that terms such as “simp,” “incel,” and “virgin” could now be against Twitch’s TOS, and it became a talking point in chats across the platform.
Twitch’s update to the Hateful Speech TOS section is mostly about intent; if someone uses slurs, misogynistic terms, or any negative terms about someone’s sexual orientation or background, those users can be banned. This includes imputing that someone is a “simp,” “virgin,” or “incel” to “negatively refer to another person’s sexual practices.” The TOS was also updated to include more case-by-case study of each reported comment; this means that words that would normally be an automatic ban can be used if it is used in an “empowering way or as terms of endearment when such intent is clear.” It also clarified that blackface, unwanted sexual comments, and the Confederate flag were not allowed on Twitch, either.
While the Twitch TOS against Hateful Speech can be seen as a step forward for not only clarity of the rules but also of less automated punishments, it seems to have backfired against the streaming service. The word “simp” has risen in mentions across the platform by almost double the average since the announcement. It seems like the upcoming ban, which will go live in January, seems to have opened the “simp” flood gates in chat.
However, it most likely isn’t as bad as some may think; most likely, many of the mentions were merely talking about the upcoming ban. Discussion of it has been widespread across a lot of social media websites as streamers as many have called out Twitch on working to ban words like “simp” usually used against white male communities, while continuing to ignore pleas from more marginalized communities to auto-ban users who use racial, misogynistic, and sexual orientation slurs against them without repercussion. It has probably also been widespread in chats of all sorts of streamers as the discuss the upcoming changes.
Hopefully, Twitch is looking to move in a positive direction, building a better community by actually taking reports of slurs of all kinds more seriously. It would make for a friendlier, more diverse, and more welcoming Twitch for all kind of people. Recently, Twitch also removed the term Blind Playthrough from the tags, as many in the blind community found the term uncomfortable. So perhaps Twitch is looking to be better all around with this new TOS update.
This TOS update, along with some other changes the Twitch has been making hopefully will make a more wholesome community. The streaming giant has also recently partnered with Tiltify to make donation streams even easier for Twitch streamers, which can only be for the good of the community as a whole. So this could be a sign of a more welcoming Twitch for everyone in the near future.
Source: streamhatchet
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