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Twitch, the Amazon-owned video streaming platform primarily used by gamers to livestream their games, announced a new policy Wednesday empowering the company to take action against users who display certain harmful behaviors entirely offline.
The policy represents a unique approach among social media peers at a time when the industry has been under escalating pressure to institute strong and consistent content-moderation policies. As lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have threatened to strip online platforms of their liability protections under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, many platforms have taken steps to place stronger guardrails on what users can post.
Under the new policy, Twitch can suspend users for up to an indefinite period of time after a third-party investigator determines there is strong evidence the person has engaged in certain offline behaviors. These actions include engaging in deadly violence, terrorist activities, grooming children for sexual exploitation, committing sexual assault or even "acting as an accomplice to non-consensual sexual activities." It will also continue to consider offline harassment in cases where a user alleges abuse online.
Twitch said it will work with "an experienced investigations law firm" to determine the validity of claims, which will rely at times on accessing evidence from law enforcement. The company said it would not take action on a user's account until it concludes its investigation and confirms evidence of wrongdoing.
The harmful offline behaviors do not need to involve another Twitch user to be considered a violation, a spokesperson confirmed. That's based on the notion that people who engage in these types of behaviors are more likely to create safety risks for the Twitch community, the spokesperson added.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday April 12 2021, @09:41PM (5 children)
Due process doesn't apply: You have no legal right to be on Twitch. You're allowed to be there because Amazon says you're allowed to be there, and they can kick you out anytime they want to.
Just like how a bar can kick you out for not wearing a shirt if they want to. It's legal to go around not wearing a shirt in a lot of cases, but that doesn't require the bar to let you in.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 12 2021, @09:55PM (1 child)
So Amazon gets to rule on these things rather than the courts...?
I'm not.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday April 13 2021, @12:55PM
When the question is "Can this person use Twitch?", yes, they're the ones that get to decide. Just like you get to decide who gets an invite to a dinner party at your house using whatever criteria you like.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Monday April 12 2021, @10:02PM (2 children)
This is more like a bar kicking you out because you didn't wear a shirt somewhere else a day before.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 13 2021, @11:20AM
Last I checked you were denied admission to Harvard because you shared retarded memes on a whatsapp group.
Same thing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 13 2021, @03:52PM
ftfy.