The majority of the content on Twitch involves gaming – including a variety of video games and TTRPG games (like Dungeons & Dragons). Twitch has noticed that there are some people who want to use their Twitch stream to spread misinformation. Twitter addressed this in a post titled: “Preventing Harmful Misinformation Actors on Twitch”.
According to Twitch: This update will likely not impact you or the streamers you love on Twitch. Twitch made it clear that they will not enforce against one-off statements containing misinformation.
Here is what Twitch streamers need to know:
Twitch partnered with over a dozen researchers and experts to understand how harmful misinformation spreads online, and learned that Harmful Misinformation Actors account for a disproportionate amount of damaging, widely debunked misinformation online.
Twitch identified three characteristics that all of these actors share: Their online presence – whether on or off Twitch – is dedicated to: (1) persistently sharing (2) widely disproven and broadly shared (3) harmful misinformation topics, such as conspiracies that promote violence.
Twitch will only enforce against actors who meet all three of these criteria. Their Off-Service investigations team will be conducting thorough reviews in each case.
In addition, Twitch has updated its Community Guidelines to include the above information.
It also gave examples of misinformation that is not allowed:
Misinformation that targets protected groups
Harmful health misinformation and wide-spread conspiracy theories related to dangerous treatments, COVID-19, and COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.
This includes discussions of treatments that are known to be harmful without noting the dangers of the treatments. It also includes, for COVID-19 – and any other WHO-declared Public Health Emergency of International Concern – misinformation that causes imminent physical harm or is part of a broad conspiracy.
Misinformation promoted by conspiracy networks tied to violence and/or promoting violence
Civic misinformation that undermines the integrity of a civic or political process (examples, election rigging, ballot tampering, vote tallying, or election fraud)
Twitch may also act on misinformation that may impact public safety in instances of public emergencies (wildfires, earthquakes, active shootings)
In my opinion, Twitch made these new policies public now, just in case it has to use them to remove a streamer who spreads harmful misinformation (on Twitch or outside of it). Twitch doesn’t want an influx of misinformation spreaders who got kicked off other forms of social media.