Amazon-owned livestreaming platform Twitch has disciplined content creators again. Just as a new meta began dominating the site earlier this month, in which streamers started playing games like Fortnite on green-screened boobs and butts, Twitch has updated its Terms of Service to strictly prohibit this kind of risque content. Creators will no longer be able to stream content that “focuses on intimate body parts for a prolonged period of time” as of March 29.
The company delivered the news through its Twitch Support X/Twitter account on March 27. Starting this Friday, March 29, livestreams that linger on “intimate body parts” won’t be allowed. The company explained in its updated Community Guidelines that “intimate body parts” means “the buttocks, groin, or breasts.” Violations of these new rules can result in the content getting removed or, should creators repeatedly ignore the restrictions, temporary or permanent account bans.
This appears to be a direct reaction to streamer Morgpie. On March 12, Morgpie streamed herself watching a YouTube video that was superimposed on her butt. She did something similar on March 14, in which she livestreamed some Fortnite gameplay on a huge image of her butt. Other creators began following suit, with some gaming on anime boobs, thighs, or even their entire bodies. Twitch didn’t say anything at the time, but now, almost two weeks later, the company is cracking the whip on the way creators show up on the platform. That’s not stopping Morgpie, though, who, the same day the company announced the ban, streamed herself playing the 2018 arcade tower defense game Bloons TD 6. However, instead of the gameplay being green-screened on her “intimate body parts,” she green-screened just her torso so that just her head and boobs are visible, while her midsection serves as the game display. Don’t believe me? Look at the top image again.
Folks are dragging Twitch for “[moving] the goal post yet again.” One person (jokingly) asked if feet were part of these new guidelines, while another wondered if this applies to VTubers. Someone said the company should “consider getting rid” of the problem streamers that force Twitch to update its rules. But the consensus seems to land on the same question: What’s the point of these new rules when content creators find ways to skirt around them anyway? This is especially true when, as Morgpie said during her March 27 livestream, she’s “digging the green screen stuff.” Does this mean the new Twitch meta will be green-screening things?
A Twitch representative told Kotaku over email that the company is always monitoring behavioral shifts and streaming metas on the platform.
“Our goal, always, is to make Twitch a welcoming place,” the representative said. “We regularly assess our rules to ensure they’re clear and effective, recognizing that online behavior can shift over time. Today’s update was meant to clarify what’s allowed on Twitch, while giving our community time to adjust and ask questions before enforcement begins.
While Twitch figures out a way to deal with creators green-screening their bodies, the platform saw an AI livestream go haywire. An AI Family Guy broadcast, seemingly powered by the same tech behind the existential Seinfeld-like Nothing, Forever, devolved into endless screaming after someone realized they could break the stream using specific commands. Gotta love Twitch.
