Streamer Raptors Continue To Test Twitch's Appropriate Content Guideline Fencing
from the wet-willy dept
It's no secret that we've dinged streaming giant Twitch over and over again these past months. Frankly, it was done with good reason, as the Amazon-owned company continues to respond to crisis after crises, conflict after conflict, with pure confusion and callous behavior. While some of those conflicts were Twitch-specific, the company is also dealing with the more common problem of attempting to have a coherent content policy when it comes to what is appropriate to stream and what is not. For instance, Twitch recently found itself in the headlines yet again first by yanking advertising revenue from so-called "hot tub meta" streamers, where streamers live-stream in bathing suits from hot tubs or kiddie pools. Kaitlyn "Amouranth" Siragusa was one of the more prominent names impacted by this move, which again came with no warning. As a result of the public backlash over Twitch choosing not to communicate with its own creative community, the platform announced a "hot tub channel" category, as though that solved anything.
But now this has moved on from just a situation where Twitch sucks at communication with streamers, its most important asset. With all of the above having occurred, it seems that the raptors are now going about testing their fencing when it comes to what content is appropriate and what is not. And, if you want to get a sense of just how weird these tests can get, you need only dive into the latest Twitch trend: ear lick meta streams. Perhaps not surprisingly, Amouranth is once again leading this charge.
Perpetual Twitch provocateur Amouranth, along with model indiefoxxlive, have been temporarily taken off the livestreaming service following some delightfully bizarre video clips going viral on social media. While Twitch never comments on bans, the timing coincides with the proliferation of a clip in which Amouranth wears a horse mask. Neighing, the controversial Twitch streamer sometimes takes the entire mic into her mouth to make slurping sounds.
Similarly, if you click on Twitch’s “ASMR” tag at the moment, the most popular streamer is a woman whispering with the occasional wet sound thrown in. The community has taken to calling such shticks “ear lick streams,” as that is basically what these broadcasts sound like.
"Delightfully bizarre" appears to be exactly the right phrase for all of this. ASMR is not specifically meant to have any sexual connotation to it. That being said, it seems quite clear that what Amouranth and the like are doing is in part at least attempting to rope some measure of sexuality into behavior that would otherwise not necessarily have any sexual connotation to it. And, of course, adding a dash of the absolutely absurd just for shits and giggles.
In other words, if you want to argue that there is clear sexual connotation to these specific videos (you can find them in the link above if you're curious), I won't argue with you all that much. But -- and this is a big caveat -- finding precisely where and how any of this violates Twitch's streaming guidelines on what's appropriate is very much an exercise in subjectivity.
The general idea predates Twitch, of course, but it’s certainly true that Amouranth is savvy enough to command attention wherever she goes. Whether or not viewers approve of her methods is beyond the point. Twitch’s Community Guidelines have multiple pages dedicated to sexually suggestive content on the site, but the general gist is that it’s not allowed on the platform.
“Evaluations on the sexual suggestiveness of a behavior or activity are independent of user attire and are instead based on the overall surrounding framing and context,” the rules read. “This policy also applies to embedded media, augmented reality, creative broadcasts, and channel content—such as banners, profile images, emotes, and panels—that are focused on provocative images or video.”
But this leaves us still with two issues. The first is yet again how Twitch doles out these punishments and changes without any real communication with streamers or the public. It all just kind of happens and we get to play the game of attempting to interpret what it all means after the fact. The second issue is common among online platforms that do a shit job of having clear content guidelines: nobody actually knows where the lines are and these punishments tend to be doled out asymmetrically.
For example, the above guidelines would appear to prohibit, oh I don't know, a liveplay of Dungeons and Dragons in which the players creatively act out to one degree or another sexual situations. And, yet, shows like Critical Role which stream on Twitch have had such content in one degree or another on the regular. Is that considered as graphic as a woman in a horse mask engulfing a microphone in her mouth?
Maybe? This feels like less of an obvious answer and more of a discussion open to interpretation. But, since Twitch has the final say for what occurs on its platform, only its opinion actually matters. But that doesn't change the fact that Twitch's guidelines are vague and unhelpful, its communication method neutered, and its handing out of punishment arbitrary and capricious.
Good times. Sluuuuuurp!
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Filed Under: appropriate content, content moderation, streamers, streaming
Companies: twitch
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Maybe Amouranth and indiefoxxlive should change the connotation and insist they're "wet willyers" instead.
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Maybe I'm just old fashioned but Twitch is for gaming. I watch gamers stream games and occasionally table-top gamers stream table-top games.
I don't know the names of streamers who don't play games and don't care to so on the one hand I don't care what Twitch does in these cases. On the other it should communicate properly to all it's content creators or just slap a NSFW tag on stuff and be done with it.
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It doesn't help that they pivoted hard on that rule.
Until relatively recently (Circa 2016) they were unequivocal on content being games only. To the point that they took down at stuff violating that even by partnered streamers.
Now they have Just Chatting (and other non-gaming categories. But let's be real... it's all about Just Chatting), which would be easy enough to ignore, if it wasn't for it being at the top of the discovery queue most times of the day (as I mention in my post below - discoverability on Twitch is really lacking). Which more than incentivses people to game the system.
There's also a disparity in moderation between JC and everything else. Like, if I stream in the League of Legends queue, I'll get my stream shut down if I'm not actually playing LoL in some way!
Meanwhile in JC, and I can seemingly do topless pushups on a lazy susan while reading sports betting results, and this is totally fine!
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"Am I out of touch? No, it's the children who are wrong."
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A case study for the Content Moderation series?
I'm not too bothered about hot tub stuff. Or ear licking. Although I would point out that this latest idea comes straight from PornHub (don't ask how I know that).
But I genuinely think this whole situation is a genuinely interesting content moderation case study.
Most of the content debate talks about illegal content, hate speech, etc. Arguably just as important for platforms is how they deal with content like this. Ie spammy, low-grade, clickbait content. Stuff that's designed to skirt rules on nudity (or whatever) and get lots of traction, but doesn't look good for the service (turning off users and advertisers)
Twitches sites design probably doesn't help here. Discoverability on the site is almost exclusively through the categories tab. ( Unless the stars align, and you randomly end up on the front page) The "just chatting" category is a complete free for all, and Twitch doesn't seem to have any metric other than how many people are watching the streams. Which is almost guaranteed to lead to to this situation; Niche or interesting content gets buried under ear licking and scantily clad women.
It's similar to the brouhaha on Instagram, over de-indexing hashtags they associate with low grade content. And like Instagram's efforts, it can be a minefield. Especially when those efforts end up with women's content disproportionately removed or downgraded.
Maybe Coppia should take a look at this?
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Re: A case study for the Content Moderation series?
A won't ask, I will just assume you are familiar with the content.😉
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"And, yet, shows like Critical Role which stream on Twitch have had such content in one degree or another on the regular."
No, they have not. Beyond that mistaken belief, context and purpose matters.
Maybe sit down and watch 130+ episodes of Critical Role before comparing their performances and streams to that of an attention-seeking whore.
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Ah yes, as we all know twitch is for those streamers that checks notes...don't want attention?
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It's subjective to be sure. But:
On the one hand, creators who want attention for themselves and their hobby (D&D), want to play it, want others to enjoy the game, and want to promote D&D to a wider audience. So they put together a nice production, write a story, and run the tabletop game in real-time, in front of a camera (Matt Mercer's DM skills have my neverending jealousy).
On the other hand, creators who want attention for themselves and the "meta" they've created. So they buy an inflatable hot-tub and some latex microphone sheaths, and let nature take it's course.
Maybe one is a more worthwile creation than the other?
Maybe.
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"Maybe sit down and watch 130+ episodes of Critical Role before comparing their performances and streams to that of an attention-seeking whore."
Hysterical. I've literally watched every single episode of CR....
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Whoops, this was me....
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You expected otherwise from a company named Twitch? I mean, these guys are the epitome of "appropriately named" company behavior.
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Actually this is clesrly against the guidelines against sexually suggestive content, the issue is they claim asmr and licking isnt sexually suggestive. Same with the hot tub shit, swimwear when swimming is fine... So hot tubs and swimwear.
They like pushing the boundaries of the rules because what they are doing is not explicitly stated, but it is against the spirit of the rule. The real issue os twitch not consistently enforcing their own rules on the content and perma banning them.
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