Twitch has organized a new advisory council that may decide to modify the platform’s rules if they are not clear enough for users, in order to resolve doubts and create what they say are more consistent ban parameters.
But if you think it may result in more free speech on the platform, think again.
Recently Facebook announced the members who would form its controversial Facebook Oversight Board, a group of “experts” who would be in charge of moderating content on the social network. Following these steps, Twitch today announced the creation of its own advisory committee.
Unlike the Facebook Oversight Board, Twitch advisers will have the ability to modify the platform’s rules if they consider them to be vague in description. The purpose is to offer consistent responses to different rule violations on the platform.
Twitch has always been criticized for having one of the most ambiguous terms of service, randomly penalizing streamers who on many occasions have not broken the rules. Other users, such as Natalia “Alinity” Mogollon, had received a little penalty despite her multiple infractions, causing a backlash from many Twitch users and causing accusations of special treatment of certain streamers.
Although, Alinity was eventually temporarily banned for showing a nipple during a live broadcast – (not for using racial slurs or animal abuse.)
The group will focus on: “drafting new policies and policy updates”, “developing products and features to improve safety and moderation”, and “protecting the interests of marginalized groups.”
But don’t expect Twitch to relax its censorship though. The descriptions for the dream team it dragged together contain all the buzzwords of a 2020 anti-free speech horror story.
The panel includes “co-Director of the Cyberbullying Research Center”, a “sociologist” who has focused on “internet and game studies”, the founder of the peer to peer support program Anti-Bullying Ambassadors, a network of trained young people dedicated to preventing peer on peer violence (on and offline) and bullying,” and a streamer whose fight for “inclusivity” includes “creating a competitive team composed entirely of marginalized gamers, and vehemently opposing non inclusive mechanics such as voice chat.”
