Recently, Twitch streamers have been skirting the platform’s guidelines by using their chests and bums as greenscreens to display gameplay on, but the company’s new rule aims to put a stop to this new meta.
A clip from popular streamer Morgpie recently went viral, showing her streaming Fortnite via her greenscreened bum. People in the replies range from disgusted to impressed with the creativity on display.
The Twitch Support Twitter account posted a statement March 27, just 11 days after the viral Morgpie clip was posted. It acknowledged “content on Twitch is always evolving, and we want to make sure our rules work as intended and keep up with emerging behaviors.”
Twitch frequently updates its rules to allow its community to share, or not, different types of material on its platform, and streamers often find ways to skirt the rules. “Starting on Friday March 29th, content that focuses on intimate body parts for a prolonged period of time will not be allowed”, the statement reads.
I’ve officially seen it all 💀pic.twitter.com/gZ96jSa3hD
— ryan 🤿 (@scubaryan_) March 16, 2024
The rule as it reads in the company’s official community guidelines is as follows: “You may not show, offer, or promote[…] content that focuses on clothed intimate body parts such as the buttocks, groin, or breasts for extended periods of time.”
This rule is a little vague, but one interpretation would be that a streamer wearing a low-cut top would be acceptable, but a camera angle focused in a close-up solely on their chest area would not be.
Twitch frequently changes its rules, and even u-turns on them, especially when people push back on the broad ones. In June, 2023, the company walked back its plans to change branded ad rules that would have not allowed streamers to “insert, embed, or ‘burn in’ prerecorded advertising units” into their streams.
Twitch also rolled back its updated nude art rules over AI concerns in December 2023.