Twitch has announced that it will now conduct its own investigations when there is a suspicion that streamers on the platform are involved in serious legal violations. For this, Twitch will also cooperate with external investigators. This comes after allegations against Twitch streamers increased in 2020: The worst accusation circulated against a player from the WoW guild Method.
Twitch wants to change that: Twitch will now begin to penalize violations that occur outside the platform when they are directed “against members of the Twitch community.” The streaming service announces this in a blog post (via twitch).
Twitch identifies two types of cases in which it will take action.
If someone is being harassed on Twitch while also being harassed outside of Twitch, they will now closely examine the actions outside of Twitch to get a better overview. For example, if a user is attacked on Twitch and also attacked on Twitter, they will take that into account.
For some particularly serious violations, Twitch will now take action even if they occur completely outside the platform. These include:
- Application of lethal or extreme violence
- Terorr-related activities or recruiting people for it
- Explicit or credible threat of mass violence (e.g., implying to commit an attack on an event or a group of people)
- Membership in a hate group
- The execution or participation in rapes or sexual assaults
- Any action that affects the safety of the Twitch community
- Explicit or credible threats against Twitch or Twitch staff
“Highly regarded investigative partners” will discreetly investigate allegations
This is how Twitch plans to do it: They say that at the moment, they have the data to track everything that happens on Twitch itself. However, they cannot investigate anything that happens completely off Twitch. But Twitch apparently wants to change that.
It is said that they have engaged “highly regarded investigative partners” to work with Twitch. This is a law firm specializing in such investigations, particularly concerning sexual discrimination or sexual assaults. The firm will handle the cases in a way that treats all involved parties discreetly and respectfully.
Through this partnership, Twitch will be able to pursue cases that occur outside of Twitch.
It is said that while the investigation is ongoing, no actions will be taken against streamers – only after the investigation is completed.
What would be an example of such an offense? In 2019, there was a case that later caused a stir. There were suspicions that a member of the large WoW raid guild “Method” had sexually harassed a streamer with whom he had streamed from his apartment:
- Twitch banned the streamer at that time but did not initiate any further action
- His guild Method believed the streamer that he had done nothing and allowed him to remain in the guild. They even offered to advocate for his unban with Twitch.
A year later, the woman who was with him stated that the streamer had raped her. She reported it, but the police could not establish anything.
The situation created a scandal that ultimately led to the disbandment of the large WoW guild. Sponsors and members accused the guild leadership of overlooking the matter.
In the months that followed, there were repeated incidents where Twitch was confronted with allegations that streamers had committed sexual assaults or exchanged sexually suggestive messages with minors.
So far, Twitch has responded to many of these cases with a permanent ban after the streamer had admitted some form of guilt or partial guilt. For example, they banned the Smash Bros. streamer “ZeRo,” who later attempted suicide.
Apparently, Twitch now wants to take action to specifically address such cases. This sexual harassment often occurs through private messages in chats outside of Twitch.
Twitch apparently wants to take a more active role in allegations
This is what it’s about: We have frequently reported on MeinMMO regarding these cases. The allegations against streamers regarding sexual misconduct often arise via Twitter and are not investigated by the police. However, there is significant pressure that forces Twitch to take action.
Until now, they relied on users’ screenshots or on the streamer confessing. Apparently, they want to take a different role now and actively try to investigate and clarify these allegations.
In June 2020, even Twitch CEO Emmet Shear (featured image) found himself in criticism. There were calls for Amazon to remove him. It was said that Twitch had also overlooked when there were allegations against Twitch staff that they had abused their position to sexually harass women.
The “violence and terrorism” aspect is surely also an important point for Twitch. It seems that Twitch wants to take on greater responsibility. The German ZDF had, for example, indirectly linked the terrorist attack in Halle to Twitch.
ZDF mounts terror attack on large Twitch stream for CS:GO – Sparks outrage
