Twitch now let users filter out and blur unwanted content.
In 2023, Twitch introduced Content Classification Labels for streamers to tag their streams accordingly. Now, users can use these filters to remove streams containing mature and unwanted content. They can also filter out streams featuring sexual themes, gambling, drug use, and more.
Moreover, there’s now an option to blur stream thumbnails with sexual themes. Hence, inappropriate imagery won’t fill the users’ homepage.
A new feature is following a number of controversies on the Amazon-owned streaming platform.
Twitch banned unlicensed gambling streams after a lot of influential streamers threaten to strike in 2022. With popular streamers like xQc losing millions of dollars to online casinos, it’s a huge issue on the platform. Now, users can filter out gambling.
In more recent news, Twitch has updated its community guidelines multiple times. The updates aim to forbid sexualized content as streamers have found new ways to push the limits. For example, in March, some streamers were using intimate body parts as green screens. It followed a rollback of changes after an influx of explicit artwork on the platform.
Now, users can filter out that type of content entirely. Users can also blur thumbnails.
Jeremy Forrester, Vice President of community products, expressed in a blog post that Twitch should be welcoming for everyone. He emphasized the importance of recognizing that content enjoyed by some might not be suitable for others.
He added that their goal with these changes is to make it easier for users to have a Twitch experience that’s right for them and to choose the communities that they want to be a part of. They recognize that everyone’s viewing preferences differ, and they should have more contorl over what they encounter when they come to Twitch.
As outlined by CEO Dan Clancy in an open letter back in March, the platform is set for further changes.
