At present, 119 billion minutes of live streams have been watched on Twitch, and that is only since January this year, as per data on twitchtracker.com.

 

As the live-streaming platform retains its popularity, something has to be done in order to maintain order in its ever-so-busy chats. In fact, Twitch has decided it will not only forbid abuse from its users, but it will also dig deeper to find out whether it is a one-off episode or a recurring habit when assessing users’ reports.

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Twitch will check users’ conduct on other platforms, mainly social media, and then decide whether to opt for a limited suspension of a user’s account or a permanent ban.

 

But that is not all. As online chats on video game streams often end up being a source of racism, misogynism and all kinds of verbal abuse, Twitch has taken some steps to prevent this sort of exploitation.

 

With its AutoMod function, Twitch streamers are allowed to enter a list of words or URLs on a blacklist, so that they will be automatically blocked when delivered on a public chat – a genius idea to ensure that most of the streamer’s personal information is not shared. AutoMod works a lot like Twitter’s ‘muted words’ feature.

 

However, Twitch’s code of conduct has raised concerns over freedom of speech, such as when a female streamer was banned for claiming that there are only two genders, as her remarks were deemed “offensive toward the transgender community.”