Twitch responds to hot tub drama by creating new category

Twitch has responded to the firestorm around ‘hot tub” live streams — and announced the creation of a special new category.

Video live streaming service Twitch has responded to the “hot tub” drama by creating an entirely new category for the controversial practice.

The “hot tub” livestreams on Twitch involves people dressing in swimwear and splashing around in hot tubs or blow-up pools.

It can make female stars plenty of money – but it has its critics.

The streams have been criticised for flirting close to the lines of Twitch’s terms of service.

Multiple streamers have been temporarily banned for accidental nudity.

Hot tub live streamer Amouranth. Picture: Amouranth/Twitch

Amouranth has more than 2.6 million followers. Picture: Amouranth/Twitch

RELATED: Twitch star temporarily banned over accidental nudity

The issue reached a climax when one of the most popular streamers – Amouranth – said her advertising revenue has been cut off by Twitch, even though she had not broken any rules.

Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa said she had been informed that Twitch has “indefinitely suspended advertising” on her channel and released a statement calling the move “alarming”.

Twitch responded in a general way today, posting a lengthy statement and announcing the creation of the new “Pools, Hot Tubs and Beaches” category on the streaming service — which can be accessed by people as young as 13 years old.

Indiefoxx, one of Twitch’s most popular hot tub streamers, has repeatedly been banned from the platform. Picture: Indiefoxx/Twitch

Viewers sometimes pay for streamers to have their name written on the streamer’s body. Picture: Indiefoxx/Twitch

Imjasmine was hit with a temporary ban after accidental nudity on her channel. Picture: imjasmine/twitch

It also addressed the issue of sexually suggestive content as it announced the creation of the new category.

“Community and advertiser feedback made clear that we need to offer more ways to control the content that’s recommended as well as where ads appear.

“So, we’re introducing a new category: Pools, Hot Tubs, and Beaches.

“If you have chosen swimwear that is allowed under the ‘Swim and Beaches’ contextual exception to our standard Nudity and Attire policy, you should stream into the Pools, Hot Tubs and Beaches category. We’ll be reaching out to creators with more details on how to use this category moving forward.”

Under the new rules, streamers will be allowed to write subscriber names on their bodies, but only if the streamer has “appropriate coverage”.

We have an update on all things Hot Tubs, ad pauses, and content preferences. Read the blog to learn more: https://t.co/C5h7MMdAae

— Twitch (@Twitch) May 21, 2021

Statement from Twitch

“First and foremost, no one deserves to be harassed for the content they choose to stream, how they look, or who they are, and we will take action against anyone who perpetuates this kind of toxicity on our service,” a spokesman for Twitch said.

“Second, while we have guidelines about sexually suggestive content, being found to be sexy by others is not against our rules, and Twitch will not take enforcement action against women, or anyone on our service, for their perceived attractiveness.”

Twitch said its policies on what is explicitly sexually suggestive had not been clear.

“Sexual suggestiveness is a spectrum that involves some degree of personal interpretation of where the line falls (as opposed to determining whether or not there is nudity).

“We will always aim to avoid being overly punitive based on assumptions – when we have taken enforcement action on this content, we’ve only done so in the case of a clear violation of our guidelines.

“To make the lines between what we consider to be overtly or explicitly sexually suggestive more clear, our team is planning to update our policies on sexually suggestive content in the coming months.”

Twitch also addressed Amouranth having her advertising suspended.

“We also want to address questions from our creators about suspending advertising on their channels.

“On Twitch, brands get to decide where and when their ads appear. Today, they can target or avoid specific categories of content and flag channels that don’t meet their standards. This means that Twitch, in rare cases, will suspend advertising on a channel at the advertisers’ request.

“We absolutely do not permit brands to use protected characteristics as a filter for advertising targeting or blocking. We recently suspended advertising on some channels that were flagged by the majority of our advertiser base and failed to notify them. Our creators rely on us, and we should have alerted affected streamers to this change before it happened – it was a mistake not to do so. We’re working with individual creators to address their specific situations and restore ads where appropriate.”

Read the full statement from Twitch here.