Twitch re-revises its guidelines to ban the implication of nudity

Twitch has revised its nudity policies yet again. The latest change bars streamers from pretending to be “fully or partially nude,” wrote Angela Hession, Twitch’s VP of Trust and Safety, in a blog post. The change comes several weeks after the company said creators could post “properly labeled” sexual content, only to flip-flop two days later.

The company added the new language to its community guidelines (reported by The Verge) in response to streamers “implying” nudity with carefully placed objects, censor bars or camera angles. The update to Twitch’s terms goes into effect today.

The revised terms also ban see-through clothing, clarifying that apparel must be fully opaque on bodily areas that require coverings. Hession also emphasized the importance of categorizing content correctly, including when streaming from near a pool, beach, or hot tub, where the “full coverage of the buttocks” requirement is loosened.

Twitch plans to eventually blur thumbnails for streams labeled as having sexual themes. “While most streamers have labeled this content appropriately with the Sexual Themes label and are wearing clothing behind the object or outside the camera frame, for many users, the thumbnails of this content can be disruptive to their experience on Twitch,” Hession wrote. Twitch says it will also update its settings to allow users to control the content they see based on how it’s labeled.

As it stands now, Twitch requires streamers to cover their buttocks, genitals and (for female-presenting streamers) the nipples and underbust areas. Visible outlines of genitals are also prohibited, but cleavage is fine as long as it’s clear the streamer is clothed. But you may want to check back soon: At the pace we’re going, Twitch may have revised its policies again by next week.