Twitch is finally taking a stand against "harmful misinformation actors." Starting Thursday, March 3, users who violate the website's new policy will be banned.
Twitch just announced a new set of Community Guidelines that specifically addresses misinformation issues in the platform. Aside from the guidelines, the platform also discussed three categories that indicate a streamer as a "harmful misinformation superspreader."
Twitch Community Policy: Who Will be Banned?
According to The Verge, Twitch said, "We do not believe that individuals who use online services to spread false, harmful information, have a place in our community." The company explained that the following criteria will be used to flag possible offenders:
- The streamer must persistently share misinformation.
- The misinformation must be widely disproven and broadly shared.
- The misinformation must encompass harmful topics, which include bogus theories about COVID-19 vaccines and elections.
Be warned that these criteria include Twitch streamers who share false information about COVID-19 vaccines, harmful health tips, and election frauds. Twitch emphasized that any streamer who "undermines the integrity of a civic or political process" and any information "promoted by conspiracy networks tied to violence and/or promoting violence" will also be banned.
The company further explained that these critera were made by taking together "the highest risk of harm including inciting real world harm." Keep in mind that these are new rules being added to the already long list of Hateful Conduct & Harassment Policy.
Twitch Misinformation Issues: System Changes
CNET noted that these changes came out just after the U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called out to big tech companies about misinformation issues. The official had emphasized that COVID-19 misinformation was growing prevalent in the platforms, so companies had until May 2 to resolve the case. Tech giants were tasked to:
- Report the sources of misinformation,
- Report the number of people exposed.
- Report about the demographic information of the victims to check how they were impacted.
Linking the two developments together, Twitch might be fulfilling its duties by actively hunting these offenders and removing them from the system to stop the spread.
Other Details About Twitch Ban Rules
Near the end of the announcement, Twitch said this update "will likely not impact you or the streamers you love" so long as users do not provoke the new rules. This implies that users who follow the guidelines can still continue on the platform.
Twitch emphasized that the new rules will not affect users "based on individual statements or discussions." This means streamers who simply disagree about a topic, or are explicitly sharing a personal opinion can be exempted from the rule.
In contrast, users who actively promote wrong information and encourage viewers to "try it out" will be severely punished.
Twitch users can report any harmful misinformation actors by contacting Twitch via email at OSIT@twitch.tv.
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