In the latest update from Twitch on its policies and content moderation, the company is now proactively going against sexual harassment, especially for chats. With this update, Twitch made it clearer for its policies and moderation to fight the significant sexual harassment activities that occur within the messaging feature of its video streaming platform.
New policies and tools are now available to protect online users further in the platform, helping them filter out messages from the get-go.
Twitch: New Policies to Protect Users Against Sexual Harassment in Chats
(Photo : MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty Images)
A new blog post from Twitch detailed its latest move to curb the rise of sexual harassment on the streaming platform, especially in chats which is notorious for these kinds of attacks. For the longest time, Twitch's policies against this wereunclear, but in this latest update, the company said that it aims to "remove ambiguity" and is clearer on its definition of sexual harassment.
Twitch is now drawing a clear line on what sexual harassment is in the platform, and this includes comments about one's appearance or body, objectification, sexual advancements, using suggestive emojis or emotes, and more.
It was also made clear by Twitch that recording or sharing "non-consensual" intimate materials may be reported to law enforcement.
New Policies, Moderation Tools to Fight Twitch Sexual Harassment
Alongside this, Twitch is also updating its AutoMod tool to help improve its approach to hinder sexual harassment incidents on the platform. Through this moderation tool, users may identify certain words that they find 'inappropriate or offensive,' with AutoMod also helping in limiting its visibility for users to avoid certain harms.
Twitch's AutoMod will also help filter the messages believed or speculated to contain sexual harassment content.
Twitch and Its Policies in Online Harm and Security
The online world is vast, and some present dangers or harms await almost anyone, including on platforms like Twitch which may lead to massive implications or issues. Previous updates on Twitch's policies looked to improve more of its protection for the younger audience in the social networking aspect of its platform, including the decision to ban users less than 13 years of age.
Moreover, there were also several tools introduced by Twitch in an update to its content moderation policies, one that not only centers on the audience but also on its streamers.
Twitch introduced the 'Shield Mode' for streamers to take advantage of, especially for newbies on the platform, especially with the rise of 'hate raids' and harmful messages against the creators.
Earlier this year, there were several changes to Twitch's content policy which first allowed 'artistic nudity' on the platform, to which the company quickly reverted to removing it from the online streams.
After significant controversies, Twitch is now making its policies and moderation tools more specific to fight against sexual harassment in chat, helping block and filter it out for the users of its platform.
