Twitch changes guidelines around political, ideological issues

If you want to get political on Twitch, you're going to have to make sure your viewers know about it. That's the gist of new content guidelines being introduced to the streaming platform, which are preventing people from getting swept up into discussions on sensitive political or ideological topics without their knowledge.

The new guidelines won't allow you to centre your streams around former or current political officials, live commentary on elections, protests, rallies, or civil unrest, military conflicts, views related to topics like gender, race, religion, or sexuality, and legislation related to things like reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, or immigration without a label. You can still post neutral streams which encourage people to vote, or go over historical fact like how election votes are counted, without a label.

"Millions of streamers, with a wide variety of views and perspectives, spend time on Twitch," said Twitch CEO Dan Clancy. "We recognise that some content, while allowed on our service, may be objectionable to some members of our community. The views shared by streamers on Twitch are not the views of Twitch nor are they my personal views...We want to ensure that anyone can find their place on Twitch, and remain committed to ensuring that hate and harassment have no place here."