twitch tightened its rules on shows that include debates on “political issues” and “sensitive social issues”.

One statementTwitch said that while it is a place “for people to express themselves and discuss the world around them,” from now on any stream that includes discussion of war, religion or “reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, or immigration” must be labeled.

“Twitch is a place for people to express themselves and discuss the world around them,” Twitch explained.

“We require streams to be tagged when the focus of the stream includes discussion and debate about sensitive political or social issues, such as discussion of elections, civic integrity, war or military conflict, and civil rights.”

Examples of content that requires a classification label include streams featuring former or current political officials, if the content includes discussions with these individuals about public policy, live coverage or commentary on elections, civic processes or election disputes, and live streams of protests, rallies. , or civil unrest related to civil rights issues or government policies.

Also subject to additional labeling are discussions of military conflicts, foreign policy decisions, or national security matters, and discussion of ideological or socio-political views on topics such as gender, race, sexuality, or religion.

“Discussion of legislation related to a sensitive social issue such as reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, or immigration” is also subject to tags.

However, “streams that contain informational or educational content that seeks to share knowledge in a neutral, fact-based manner rather than engage in any kind of advocacy of an issue or candidate” are still not subject to labeling.

“For example, sharing the history of how votes are counted in US presidential elections to determine the next president, or simply encouraging people to vote or register to vote,” Twitch explained. “Intermittent mentions of politics, politicians or sensitive social issues should not be labeled Politics and sensitive social issues.”

The changes come after a difficult few weeks for the livestreaming giant, which has found itself facing accusations of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.

“There is no place on Twitch for racism, hate or harassment of any kind, including anti-Semitism and Islamophobia,” CEO Dan Clancy said in a complementary statement. “As our community has grown, we’ve worked hard to build Community Rules to prohibit this damage.”

“Twitch is, and always will be, about belonging. Every day, people come together in our service to build communities around shared interests and express themselves authentically. To make this possible, we work hard to make sure our community is a safe place.”

“Millions of streamers, with a wide variety of viewpoints and perspectives, spend time on Twitch. We recognize that certain content, while permitted on our service, may be objectionable to some members of our community. Opinions shared by streamers on Twitch are not the opinions of Twitch, nor my personal opinions. “We’re grateful for the feedback and input from our community,” Clancy concluded “Our approach to safety continues to develop and evolve as our service grows. We want to make sure that everyone can find their place on Twitch, and we’re committed to making sure that hate and harassment have no place here.”

Last week, Twitch has issued an apology for preventing new accounts from registering in Israel and Palestine due to the ongoing conflict. It said sign-ups were temporarily disabled following the October 7, 2023 attacks to “prevent uploads of attack-related graphic materials and protect user safety.” However, until recently, this check had not been reactivated.