Twitch Announces Plans To Address "Off-Service Misconduct"

Alright, this isn't really DIRECTLY free-to-play news, but since we all stream or watch streams, it is something that we feel a lot of you will find relevant. Video game (and other things) streaming service Twitch has been working on their Hateful Conduct and Harassment policy, not only taking more moves to enforce it, but also adding to it. Today, the company announced plans to expand how they deal with "off-service enforcement" which deals with the actions of users on social media and other venues that are not part of Twitch itself.

The new system breaks this into two categories. The first addresses harassment on Twitch that carries over into social media, email, and similar venues. The second addresses "serious offenses that pose a substantial safety risk to the Twitch community, even if these actions occur entirely off Twitch." The second category includes, but is not (permanently) limited to the following:

• Deadly violence and violent extremism
• Terrorist activities or recruiting
• Explicit and/or credible threats of mass violence (i.e. threats against a group of people, event, or location where people would gather).
• Leadership or membership in a known hate group
• Carrying out or acting as an accomplice to non-consensual sexual activities and/or sexual assault
• Sexual exploitation of children, such as child grooming and solicitation/distribution of underage sexual materials
• Actions that would directly and explicitly compromise the physical safety of the Twitch community, such as threatening violence at a Twitch event
• Explicit and/or credible threats against Twitch, including Twitch staff

At present, these items are where Twitch will focus their efforts, as investigating and acting on behavior not occurring on their site is a rather large undertaking. It is, however, not something they haven't done before on a smaller scale.

To expand their efforts, they've teamed up with a third-party organization that they describe as "an experienced investigations law firm". The organization specializes in this kind of activity and will give Twitch the ability to be more thorough in their investigations.

A new, dedicated email address has also been created specifically for users to report off-service issues. The info sent to [email protected] will be confidential and only shared with those participating in the investigation.

Full details on the new policy, as well as a FAQ are available on the Twitch blog.