Twitch adjusts confusing new apparel rules for streamers

Twitch wants to specify what constitutes appropriate apparel for streaming, after people expressed concern over the company’s previous wording about acceptable attire.

Twitch’s new guidelines state that streamers must wear proper apparel, as dictated by their stream’s content. But a blog post published by the company today acknowledges that trying to enforce a specific dress code for streamers is “unreasonably restrictive,” and something the company isn’t trying to do.

“Given the variety of content and activities creators engage in, an explicit dress code would be unreasonably restrictive,” the post reads. “Streaming is a public activity that reaches a global audience of many ages and cultures, and as such we prohibit nudity and sexual conduct. When evaluating reports for sexual conduct, attire is just one factor we will use in making a determination on whether conduct is acceptable. We recommend creators wear attire that would be publicly appropriate for the context, location, and activity they are broadcasting.

“For example, workout clothes would be appropriate for a fitness stream and a swimsuit would be appropriate for a stream from a public beach.”

This is a little more specific than the company’s previous description of appropriate on-camera clothing. Streamers were previously told to wear clothing that would be appropriate for a mall or restaurant.

“We’ll be looking at contextual elements such as the stream title, camera angles, emotes, panels, attire, overlays, and chat moderation,” the original blog post read. “Offering access to prohibited sexual content such as ‘lewds’ on Twitch remains prohibited.”

Twitch’s new apparel guidelines mark the company’s attempt to eliminate content it deems sexually suggestive or inappropriate. There have been complaints lobbed at the company because of how some people, mostly women, dress on their streams. The tension between some female streamers and other users on the platform has led to on-camera rants, harassment and bullying.

In an earlier post, Twitch emphasized that the new rules shouldn’t be used as a reason to attack streamers who don’t adhere to them.

“As a reminder, we will not tolerate using this policy as a basis to harass streamers on or off Twitch, regardless of whether you think they’re breaking this rule,” Twitch said.

Twitch’s new guidelines, which will also enforce off-platform behavior rules, go into effect on March 5.