Twitch retracts changes after spike in nudity: ‘We went too far’

After just two days, live streaming platform Twitch reverted to its old rules banning ‘artistic’ and ‘virtual’ nudity, with CEO Dan Clancy saying on Friday that some streamers were taking the newly relaxed rules too far. I wrote that I accepted it.

“Some streamers have responded to this update by creating content that violates our new policies. We worked quickly to remove the content and enforce channel enforcement,” Clancy said on Twitch. blog post.

“However, there was also a lot of new content allowed under the updated policy. Much of the content created was in response to community concerns. These are concerns we share,” Clancy added.

that much New rules against nudity The rule, briefly enacted this week, allows streamers to broadcast any type of nude, as long as it is “artistic” or fictional, created by an artist. But some streamers quickly broadcast content That can be considered. borderline porn, shocking nude contentOr falls into the category that some people call “.hentai” (aka anime-style porn).

Screenshot posted by a Twitch viewer Exceeded the ‘Art’ category Explicit stream titles matching drawings of characters with large genitals, breasts, or naked characters, or drawings with titles such as “How is this allowed?!” Other organizations, such as esports organization Cloud9, broken joke About the easing of restrictions.

One Twitter user said this: suggestive meme Twitch was effectively promoting pornography with its new rules. And other Twitter users claimed that such “artistic” nude content was being “recommended” to under-18 users on the platform.

“On reflection, we have decided that this change has gone too far,” Clancy said in an update Friday. He said: “Digital depictions of the nude present unique challenges. AI can be used to create photorealistic images, and it can be difficult to distinguish between digital art and photography.”

With the advent of generative AI art tools like Midjourney this year, artificial intelligence has been used to generate a variety of nude depictions across the internet, from cartoons to photorealistic models to cartoons. Non-consensual deepfakes Of real people.

Under Twitch’s looser rules, briefly enacted earlier this week, other streamers’ AI-generated “artistic” nude creations could be spread without consent, while technically following Twitch’s guidelines for artistic nudity. But Twitch’s community guidelines more broadly ban “deepfake intimate images of identifiable people,” creating a brief gray area between art and reality.

Twitch is like TikTok TwitterThe rest of social media relies on viewer interest and often ‘interest economy,” succeeds. Over the years, there have been a number of surprising “meta” or trends that have made headlines. convulsionIt’s part of an effort to stand out, especially among female-identifying streamers.

at hot tub stream to ASMR trend of licking earsTwitch most recently “topless“A trend. In it, the creator appears to be streaming topless, but no nipples are visible.

Soon after “Topless” Twitch streamer bannedplatform Announced extensive updates It outlines a sexual content policy that allows acts such as twerking and pole dancing, as well as artistic and fictional nudity, as long as they do not occur within a strip club.

In October, Twitch executive Mary Kish said: decryption that Twitch is the “safest” platform It’s great for creators compared to rivals like Kick, but Kick’s Community Guidelines Likewise, it bans ‘pornography’, requires warnings for 18+ content where applicable, and prohibits acts of ‘discrimination’ or ‘hate speech’.

According to Twitch’s Friday update, the platform appears to be rolling back its allowance for artistic and fictional nudity. Adult-rated games containing nudity will continue to be permitted on the site.

Twitch has not yet responded. decryptionThis is a request for additional opinion.

Editor: Andrew Hayward