Twitch today unveiled many new initiatives and features to be rolled out in the coming months, but some of the policy changes that will be implemented soon left viewers scratching their heads.
According to Twitch’s COO Sara Clemens, the terms simp, virgin and incel will all be banned in the context of insults.
This applies to both streamers and users in their chats who decide to use one of these terms. Twitch will also take action against emotes that contain these terms and conditions, remove them and ensure that no new previews appear once the terms of service take effect.
“Using terms such as simp, incel, or virgin to refer as an insult to negatively refer to someone else’s sexual activity is not allowed under this new policy,” said Clemens. “In addition to the new policy change, we are actively denying emotes containing the term simp and will remove them when reported.”
More details about the specifics of these terms and others that are officially banned from use on the Twitch platform and how the company will enforce them will be shared when the policy changes are officially made and published for all to view.
All of this was discussed on today’s Twitch Town Hall broadcast, where the company’s graduates spoke to viewers about new features and changes coming to the platform. This included details on new VOD management features, an update on DMCA policies and how streamers should approach music usage, and more.
Update December 22 8:30 p.m. CT: After City Hall, Twitch released a statement further clarifying the situation surrounding the terms.
“We will take action against the use of terms such as’ simp, ‘incel’ or ‘virgin’, specifically when they are used to negatively refer to someone else’s sexual practice,” Twitch said. “Using these terms independently would not lead to enforcement, but we would take action if they were used repeatedly in an intimidating way.”
Twitch went on to say that emotes related to these terms will be rejected and removed when reported in an effort to “minimize the potential for harm.”