Twitch "Artistic Nudity" Policy Update

Submission 17,181

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Overview

Twitch "Artistic Nudity" Policy Update refers to the livestreaming website Twitch updating its sexual content guidelines in December 2023, which notably came after the virality of streamer Morgpie and her topless livestreams that inspired the "Topless Twitch Meta." The update allowed streamers "Artistic Nudity" but with a determined label attached to the content, meaning that the livestream in question needs to signal the type of content and that, furthermore, will not appear on the platform's home page. The new guideline became a trending topic on the internet, inspiring debates, jokes and memes in the following days, as well as controversy for some being banned and many finding the terms of service (TOS) to be too vague. Two days later, on December 15th, 2023, Twitch CEO Daniel Clancy decided to turn back sexual content policy, blaming "AI-made" nudity for being "hard to distinguish between digital art and photography."

Background

On December 13th, 2023, Twitch^[1] announced changes to its sexual content policies in which some things that were previously prohibited would now be allowed if the streamers follow the company's labeling guidelines. The new rules highlight that content that "deliberately highlighted breasts, buttocks or pelvic region" was normally penalized and resulted in female-presenting streamers being disproportionately penalized. This format of content is allowed by the company, under the "artistic nudity" segment if creators label the content as containing sexual themes.

That same day, the X^[2] account of @dexerto uploaded a list of the main updates on the policy, including the following:

Changes: Certain content now allowed with labels
Artistic Nudity: Permitted under Sexual Themes Label
Game Nudity: Contextual; labels necessary
Body Painting: Acceptable with appropriate label
Mature Games: Label generally covers content
Stream Visibility: Impacted by content labels

Developments

Twitch CEO Daniel Clancy's Statement

On December 15th, 2023, only two days after the platform decided to allow "artistic nudity" on the streams, its CEO Daniel Clancy wrote a new statement^[10] explaining why Twitch decided to pull back from some of the sexual content guideline changes. In the article, Clancy details the company had gone too far and that AI is one of the key factors to blame it, as "digital depictions of nudity present a unique challenge – AI can be used to create realistic images, and it can be hard to distinguish between digital art and photography," he explains. Full statement below:

According to the statement, effectively after December 15th, 2023, the company will roll back the "artistic nudity" changes and all "depictions of real or fictional nudity won’t be allowed on Twitch, regardless of the medium," exempt for Mature-rated games.

Art Streamers Ban

The updated Twitch policies also allowed “fictionalized (drawn, animated, or sculpted) fully exposed female-presenting breasts and/or genitals or buttocks regardless of gender” with a label explaining the type of content. This inspired many artists to share explicit content on their streams a day after the new rules were released, leading to quite a few of these streamers getting banned^[6] from the platform, which confused users and caused chaos on social media. For example, on December 14th, streamer @orobou^[7] got banned from Twitch after they were drawing a nude character on stream, even though they alleged correctly labeling their stream with ‘Sexual Themes.’The creator's explanation was shared on X^[7], amassing roughly 57 likes in a day. (shown below)

Attire Policy Update

On January 3rd, 2024, Twitch^[13] released an update on its attire policy guidelines to prohibit implied nudity while streaming on the platform. The new rules "don’t permit streamers to be fully or partially nude, including exposing genitals or buttocks." The platform shared the update on X^[14], which amassed more than 3,200 likes and 1,100 retweets in a day.

Online Reactions

As the new policy update was widely covered in the media and spread on the internet, numerous streamers, content creators and users shared their thoughts about it online. For instance, on December 13th, 2023, YouTuber^[3] @TheQuartering posted a video explaining Twitch's new guidelines (shown below, left), amassing more than 17,000 views and 2,400 likes in a few hours.

On the same day, YouTuber^[4] @DuaneTV shared his opinion on the livestreaming policy update (shown below, right), which received roughly 100 views and 13 likes in its first hour.

Famous streamers reacted to Twitch's new guidelines, like xQc, who commented on the updates during a stream on December 13th, 2023. A clip was later uploaded on YouTube^[8] by @xQc_Clips (shown below, left), amassing more than 26,000 views and 383 likes in two days. On December 14th, 2023, YouTuber^[9] and streamer Cr1TiKaL shared his thoughts regarding the livestreaming platform's new policy update. His video (shown below, right), garnered over 994,000 views and 62,000 likes in a day.

On December 13th, X^[5] user @Pizza__Dad complained about Twitch's new policy using a meme from The Office comedy series. The post (shown below) amassed over 204,000 views and 825 likes in a few hours.

"Artistic Nudity" Content

The effect of Twitch's sexual content guideline inspired several artists to post 18+ content on their streamers. For instance, on December 14th, 2023, X^[11] user @BeyondInfiniteX shared the thumbnail of @Yurisann stream drawing a topless woman (shown below, top), which garnered over 113 likes and 9 retweets in a day. On the same day, X^[12] user @VarsityGamingTV posted a screenshot of streamer @Khal (shown below, bottom) drawing Petter Griffin from Family Guy in BDSM attire. The post garnered over 1,300 likes and 60 retweets in a day.