Amazon (which owns Twitch) announced rules against offline offenses which pose a “substantial safety risk” to the Twitch community. Under this policy, Amazon/Twitch reserves the right to ban users for “severe misconduct” which occurs offline. Examples given include terrorist activities, sex offenses, being an accomplice to a sexual offense, violent extremism, credible threats of mass violence, or membership with a hate group.
“At this time, we are not able to investigate behaviors that occur entirely off Twitch that fall outside of these categories,” the company said. The reason for that is because for accusations of incidents which occur outside of Twitch, the company must rely heavily on reports from law enforcement, whereas for behavior which takes place on the platform, they can simply verify the accusations themselves.
“These behaviors represent some of the most egregious types of physical and psychological harm, but we understand that this list is not inclusive of all types of harassment and abuse.”
In order to aid in investigations, the company said it has employed a “highly-regarded” third party investigative partner to support its own investigative team. This third party was not named, but the press release mentioned later that the company is a law firm.
Although the rules have just recently been made official, Twitch has previously banned users who were accused of sexual harassment outside of the platform.
In the press release, the company also acknowledged the existence of false flag campaigns. Twitch streamer Quqco complained of multiple suspensions accusing her of posting “sexually suggestive content.” Quqco denied these accusations, blaming a “group of trolls” who kept falsely reporting her and calling her a “thot.” Amazon announced it will also suspend accounts for submitting large amounts of frivolous reports or encouraging others to submit false reports.
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