Streaming service Twitch has attempted once again to answer some of the ongoing uncertainties about its new community guidelines, which come into effect today.

The changes were supposed to kick in last month but were delayed until today (March 5th) with the promise of additional clarification.

One of the biggest concerns for some streamers was the suggestion that they would be held directly responsible for the actions of their Twitch communities. Some streamers with ‘edgier’ fanbases feared that the new rules would inevitably lead to channel bans.

Twitch’s refreshed guidelines on the subject remain vague, but certainly appear to give creators a bit more breathing space.

“Creators are role models and leaders of the communities they create or foster around them,” a blog post reads. “Creators should consider the consequences of their statements and actions of their audiences; we ask that you make a good faith effort to quell any efforts from those in your community to harass others. Twitch should not be used to incite, encourage, promote, facilitate, or organize hateful conduct or harassment, whether on or off Twitch.

“We will suspend communities, organizations, and individuals that do so.”

Essentially, streamers who witness bad behaviour and don’t act face punishment, whereas those who do act – even if their intervention makes no difference – should be fine.

Good Behaviour

Twitch has also gone into more details about its commitment to taking action for behaviour that takes place on other platforms. If it can be proved that a Twitch user has harassed another Twitch user in a manner where both parties are directly identifiable as their Twitch identities, action will be taken. Twitch will not be moderating this itself, however, and will rely on user-submitted reports.

Twitch has also backed away from what it describes as an “explicit dress code” as this it now says “would be unreasonably restrictive”. Nudity and sexual conduct remains banned.

It adds: “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.”