Twitch responds to #TwitchDoBetter – also introduces gambling restrictions

After #TwitchDoBetter made the rounds on Twitter, Twitch decided to change things up and shared a statement, wanting to protect marginalized users from problems like racism and targeted harassment. “We were able to identify a vulnerability in our proactive filters, and have rolled out an update to close this gap and better detect hate speech in chat. […] We’re launching channel-level ban evasion detection and account verification improvements later this year.“

Thank you to everyone who shared these difficult experiences. We were able to identify a vulnerability in our proactive filters, and have rolled out an update to close this gap and better detect hate speech in chat. We’ll keep updating this to address emerging issues.

— Twitch (@Twitch) August 11, 2021

Aside from their response to chat bots, Twitch also released a Creator Update that deals with gambling streams, most notable referral codes and certains links that lead to (sometimes malicious) gambling websites. “To prevent harm and scams created by questionable gambling services that sponsor content on Twitch, we will prohibit sharing links and/or referral codes to sites that offer slots, roulette, or dice games. We will continue to monitor gambling-related content and update our approach as needed.”

With these updates Twitch wants to show that they are willing and able to listen to the community and that they want to be held accountable when things go wrong on the website, something they also talked about more in their statement on #TwitchDoBetter. “Our work is never done, and your input is essential as we try to build a safer Twitch. We’ll be reaching out to community members to learn more about their experiences, and encourage you to share feedback.”

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