For a long time, Twitch has been against sexually suggestive content on its platform. Any depiction of deep cleavage, underboob, or revealing clothing has resulted in a ban from the huge streaming platform. However, after a recent incident with a user getting banned for appearing “topless” on her channel, Twitch has made changes to its Terms of Service, basically allowing for “Artistic Nudity” and loosening restrictions when it comes to how female-presenting persons show themselves on Twitch. Oh, and that user was also unbanned right after.
Let’s all see it for what it is… Twitch has joined Kick, PornHub, and various Cam sites when it comes to allowing topless women to do whatever they want (To a degree) on their platform, which is still requiring a minimum age of 13 years to access. Yep, sexual content is appearing to be given the green light on Twitch, and it has created a new meta that is worse than the hot tub meta from a few years ago, one that is ripping viewership from women who are trying to do things right, like wanting to game.
Note: While we respect women in what they do, some things do cross a line. There has been an attempt to hide the usernames of the women currently involved in this meta, but some usernames of other women are shown… Please support those who are doing the right thing with their channel/grind, not those who abuse a meta like this.
What is going on at Twitch? pic.twitter.com/NeDxnS56BR
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) December 8, 2023
Twitch streamer sparks outrage over viral ‘topless’ broadcast
On December 8, a clip from streamer, cosplayer, and OnlyFans model ‘Morgpie’ went viral on social media, showing the creator seemingly standing fully nude in front of the camera. However, the camera cut off just above any sensitive bits — but many viewers felt she went too far.
She isn’t the only streamer engaging in this ‘topless’ meta, either. Other broadcasters have also streamed similar content, leaving commenters across social media baffled as to how this content hasn’t warranted a ban for violating the platform’s Community Guidelines on Sexually Explicit Content.
Twitch’s (former) Guidelines on Adult Nudity prohibit female-presenting individuals from showing “breasts with exposed nipples,” unless they are “actively breastfeeding a child.” Many viewers argue that these streamers are finding ways to skirt Twitch’s Guidelines on this matter.
Morgpie doesn’t seem too bothered by the backlash against her, even after getting a ban two days after the post of her went viral.
Morgpie was unbanned three days later…
Twitch updates its Terms of Service to allow “Artistic Nudity,” creates new official Meta
On December 14th, Twitch decided to change its Terms of Service Policies. The changes, as shown on their internal update post, made the following changes:
Some types of content that were prohibited will now be allowed on Twitch, if appropriately labeled. These changes include:
- Previously prohibited but now Allowed With Label
- Content that ‘deliberately highlighted breasts, buttocks or pelvic region,’ even when fully clothed. Streamers found it difficult to determine what was prohibited and what was allowed and often evaluating whether or not a stream violated this portion of the policy was subjective. In addition, the former Sexually Suggestive Content policy was out of line with industry standards and resulted in female-presenting streamers being disproportionately penalized.
- Fictionalized (drawn, animated, or sculpted) fully exposed female-presenting breasts and/or genitals or buttocks regardless of gender. There is a thriving artist community on Twitch, and this policy was overly punitive and did not reflect the impact of the content.
- Body writing on female-presenting breasts and/or buttocks regardless of gender. The Twitch Attire Policy already allows body art on breasts and buttocks, so this change makes these policies consistent.
- Erotic dances that involve disrobing or disrobing gestures, such as strip teases.
- Changes to Popular Dances
- Popular dances, such as twerking, grinding, and pole dancing are now allowed without a label. Previously some dances were prohibited and others were allowed with a label. Enforcing on dances regardless of context meant our policy prohibited twerking at a wedding or taking a pole dancing exercise class, for example. The policy now takes context into consideration, and only prohibits streaming inside of an adult entertainment establishment.
These changes allowed previously bannable content of a sexually suggestive nature to become allowed. While Twitch has stated that these changes will require specific labeling to do such content, streamers have ignored that part and just started using the “topless artistic nudity” meta on mass. This meta has quickly taken over the top viewership on the site, especially in the “Just Chatting” category.
VTubers, Male-presenting persons, and Trans people are still restricted by Twitch for the same Metacontent
In the Twitch update, there was a specific part outlined for VTubers, which reads as follows:
- Avatars that translate streamer’s real-life movement into digital characters are subject to our Adult Nudity and Attire policies and may be prohibited.
So while female-presenting streamers are fully allowed to take advantage of this new meta and the changes to the TOS, VTubers such as Vexxoria The Suneater, who presents as a female snake lewdtuber, can still be banned for showing the same content as someone like Morgpie does with her fictionalized animated 3D model.
What was also made abundantly clear, thanks to Twitch’s own Attire Policy, is that Men are not allowed to appear in the same “artistic nudity” upper half of the body shot as female presenting streamers are allowed to. Twitch has been actively banning male-presenting streamers who appear with the upper half of their body unclothed, no matter the body type.
While still very unclear, Twitch does not mention Trans people at all in their guidelines, so the assumption is that Trans-Male and Trans-Female presenting streamers are not allowed to appear topless on the platform at this time.
All of this comes across as very sexist in nature, restricting two other sub-sets of the community while allowing another to do essentially whatever they want.
New Terms of Service create a loophole, streamers take advantage
As it is with most things on Twitch, there will always be streamers out there who are looking to take advantage of loopholes in the Terms of Service Policy. This rings especially true in this case where multiple streamers, especially those in the “Just Chatting” category, have appeared overnight and are hitting the thousands if not tens of thousands of viewers as they “try out the new meta”.
This was the case for the streamer pictured above, who appeared on her stream and stated “I’m just here to try out the new meta and abuse it”.
Taking a look at the numbers of these streamers shows that most of them will get 1000 to 1500 viewers on the LOW end of the scale, whereas others are looking at 10,000 viewers or higher during their streams. Most of them are not doing anything except sitting there talking to the people in the chat and “dancing” when they get another subscription ($7.99 a month on Twitch, probably much cheaper than accessing most of these women’s Only Fans accounts).
Then there is the advertising. Most of these streamers will have an Only Fans account where they have been posting this type of content up to this point. Now, thanks to the changes to the Twitch TOS, they are freely allowed to use the platform to not only get a few extra dollars through the platform but also advertise their Only Fans or whatever accounts in the background of their streams, getting them more money… Gotta respect the hustle, though…
The Effect on Female (and male) presenting Gamers
The follow-on effects are already starting to be felt on Twitch. With tens of thousands of people split over multiple “Artistic Nudity” meta streamers, other categories are suffering. One of the biggest hits comes in the “art” category, where Twerk channels are popping up at a rate of 5:1 on average.
This leaves the actual artists, some of whom are embracing the “artistic nudity” changes (aka the ones who should be benefitting these changes), buried lower than usual in their category thanks to those abusing the meta.
Then there are the gamers. While female-presenting gamers do okay before these changes, they are getting hammered now.
Female-presenting Gamers are seeing a huge downturn in their viewership, too. It’s not easy for streamers to keep to their morals now that it’s easy for others to abuse a meta that is basically softcore porn. How are female Gamers meant to compete? Well, some have changed the way they look on stream. Several female Gamers are now showing deep cleavage to the point of “how are they staying in there?” levels, with a small window of a game playing in the corner to get some views back from the meta streamers.
The results of such tactics have seen these types of gamers only getting 10% of what the meta-streamers are getting.
In an age where we are being told over and over to “respect women” and “stop treating women as sexual objects,” how are we meant to change? Also, how are female Gamers meant to compete with softcore porn streamers? This new meta, along with the TOS changes, have completely destroyed gaming and respect for females on Twitch.
Won’t Somebody think of the Children?!
Twitch is still meant to be a “family-friendly” platform, with the signup age requirement being 13 years of age or older.
This new meta comes off as softcore porn, with children being able to access these streams direct from the front page, despite Twitch stating that they are not going to allow such content to be seen on the recommended page of any users.
As of writing, these meta streams are still being seen on Twitch’s front page in both logged-in and unlogged formats. Twitch posted that they are “working on a solution.”
We’ve gotten feedback that our policies around sexual content are unclear so we’ve drawn clearer boundaries between what is & isn’t permitted on Twitch.
We also recognize that not everyone wants to see certain content, so we’re updating our criteria for homepage recommendations. pic.twitter.com/rvZ4kFADR6
— Twitch (@Twitch) December 13, 2023
However, when it comes to accessing the content in general, Twitch doesn’t give a damn anymore since they want the money. So what’s upsetting a few million parents when their kids subscribe to someone who is using the meta to get money? As long as Amazon, the owners of Twitch, get their cut, right?
Twitch, Kick, PornHub, What’s the difference?
Sites like Kick, Only Fans, and Fansly have been eating into Twitch’s dominance of the streaming space as of late, giving consumers a more “free” competition to go and enjoy.
These changes to the Terms of Service policy are Twitch’s way to combat those sites and bring viewers back to their platform to not only stream but also spend money and watch. Twitch will see a huge ad revenue boost thanks to those returning (and unbanned) streamers who will sit topless and gain thousands of viewers a day. For a business move, this is a good thing for Twitch.
However, these changes do nothing but allow a subset of the overall community absolute power, ruining the careers (or budding careers) of other streams, especially those in the gaming space who have more than enough viewership to begin with.
Twitch is selling its soul to stay relevant, but in 2023, where we are meant to respect women and see them for more than their bodies, this seems like a huge step in the wrong direction.
