Streamers stunned after Twitch partially banned the word ‘Simp’

It’s been another 24 hours for Twitch – the latest in what is set to be a agonizing year for the company (and also everyone on Earth). Yesterday afternoon, Twitch held a town hall live with the aim of informing recent policy changes and functionality relating to DMCA, sexual harassment, advertising and other current issues. In the aftermath, however, many streamers focused on a small part of the two-hour presentation: Twitch’s decision to ban words like “simp,” “incel,” and “virgin” – at least, when they are used in derogatory contexts.

Towards the end of Town Hall, Twitch COO Sara Clemens explained the new Twitch rules will go into effect next month. Clemens explained that one of the new rules outlaw “derogatory statements about another person’s perceived sexual practices,” which includes “negatively targeting another person with sexually-oriented language.”

“The use of terms like ‘simp’, ‘incel’ or ‘virgin’ as an insult to negatively refer to another person’s sexual activity is not allowed under this new policy,” said Clemens. “In addition to the policy change, we are also proactively declining emoticons that include the term ‘simp’. We remove them when they are reported and will continue to do so once the policy is changed. “

In an email to Kotaku, Twitch clarified that “simp”, “incel” and “virgin” are not totally prohibited and will only incur penalties when they “refer negatively to the sexual practices of another person”.

“Using these terms alone would not lead to an app, but we would take action if they were repeatedly used in a harassing manner,” said a representative from Twitch. “We do not accept emoticons related to these terms and remove them when reported to us. We have a stricter policy on emoticons overall, as they can be used on Twitch, so we’re taking more proactive steps to minimize the potential for harm. “

Earlier this year, Kotaku discovered that Twitch had removed the “simp” emoticons since February, so it’s not entirely new. But it’s a codification of an approach that has left many streamers flabbergasted because of those most often harassed (sexual or otherwise) on the platform.

“Yet people can still walk my chat and call me sluuuurs with little to no action,” Twitch partner PleasantlyTwstd said on Twitter.

“Where was all this scandal when black and female streamers complained about being harassed on Twitch?” said streamer and organizer DaPurpleSharpie. “Where was Twitch’s ‘WE NEED TO STOP HARASSMENT’ position then?”

“Twitch is talking big about inclusion, but can’t ban chat N-word globally,” says Detune, Twitch partner and musician. “Instead, we have to type it ourselves to be changed. You all wanna know how painful it is to type the racial insult that you are called and having to think of all the variants to obtain an automatic ban? “

“Using the words ‘simp’, ‘virgin’ and ‘incel’ are now banned offenses on Twitch,” said SeriousClara, Twitch partner. “Glad the super-marginalized male demographic is finally safe.”

Twitch generally touts itself as a company developing new tools and features so streamers can maintain their own communities as they see fit, but City Hall has painted a bleak picture of when and how it opts. intervene. In the case of words like “simp”, Twitch chose to make a decision for everyone – and a mystifier at that. There has been no widespread demand for repression on terms which, when used negatively, largely refer to the people who harass, not the harassment. No one really asked for that. It came out of nowhere, with Twitch issuing an executive order despite protests from streamers.

However, the streamers to have have been asking for tags centered on specific identities – for black and trans streamers, among others – for years. The idea is that these tags, just like Twitch’s “communities” feature that tags replaced in 2018, would allow streamers to find others like them and viewers to discover new streamers who are part of these. groups. This would create stronger communities not only within singular streams, but across various broadcast channels. In a hostile internet, these types of simple community building tools are essential for marginalized groups. And yet, during the town hall, Twitch made another decision for the streamers, despite what they asked. Towards the start of the stream, Twitch CEO Emmett Shear acknowledged the streamers’ years-long campaign for a trans tag, but not to tell them one of them is on the way.

“While we were looking to launch new identity tags, like the trans tag in particular, we ran into two issues: The first issue we saw was that the use of tags can often lead to increased harassment. for streamers, especially in vulnerable identity groups ”. he said. “We wanted to make sure that we were trying to fix this problem so that people didn’t accidentally choose this type of harassment.”

The other problem, Shear noted, is that he doesn’t want Twitch staff to be “the arbiter of identity”. “If we choose which tags deserve to be tagged, there will always be someone who feels left out,” he says.

Shear went on to say that some sort of beacon system that “enables self-identity” is coming in 2021, but he stopped before explaining what form that will take. In the meantime, streamers are upset that this is where Twitch chose to draw the line.

“They signaled not to implement a trans tag because… they don’t want to incite more hatred / harassment against trans people on the platform? said Negaoryx, Twitch partner and voice actor. “They already take care of that, Twitch. Moderate your platform! Apply your [terms of service] and face the stalkers!

“I am the victim of targeted harassment because I am bi via the LGBT + tag, but I get 100 times as many LGBT + people as viewers who identify with me,” said Novaleesi, Twitch Partner. “It’s worth it. All the risk-reward talk is stupid. Give trans people the option to have a trans tag.”

“Tags are opt-in!” Twitch Partner and Founder of I Need Diverse Games Ask “Cypheroftyr” DePass said. “Twitch cannot be the arbiter of an opt-in tag. Deal with the harassment instead of not giving us identity tags. Or bring back communities! “

Twitch has said repeatedly that mitigating harassment is a priority and, to the company’s credit, it is trying harder than most. His new rules target stalkers in a suitably harsh manner, at least on paper (we’ll see how enforcement goes when January arrives), and during town hall, the company mentioned that it continues to develop its trust and security team. Twitch, however, has a long-standing habit of missing the mark a bit in a way that is proving infuriating. Often it does this by offering dressings for surface level injuries, like the word ‘simp’, while telling streamers asking for more systemic solutions that what they want is just not possible, or that it represents too great a risk. It paints a portrait of a company that thinks it knows better than everyone else, even as age-old problems continue to escalate. Streamers, of course, are frustrated by this.

In some ways, Twitch knows better than its users; it regularly experiments with new features and collects data on a bewildering and massive scale. But data is never a complete story, and until Twitch learns to really listen to its community and communicate its findings without sounding dismissive or terribly myopic, we’re going to keep coming back to the same place, just like we have to. countless times in the past. Maybe Twitch is just a punishment.

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