Twitch introduce mandatory “Politics and Sensitive Social Issues” label, just in time for the US election

Twitch have introduced a new “Politics and Sensitive Social Issues” label for streams that “focus” on topics like “elections, civic integrity, and war or military conflict”. As with the streaming giant’s existing labels for M-rated material, sexual themes or depictions of gambling, the idea is that viewers can filter out such streams in advance by altering their settings.

Advertisers, similarly, can “make better choices about the content they want to advertise next to” – in other words, pull their ads from a whole swathe of material if they don’t want to be associated with anything controversial. Twitch’s hope is that “the labels will allow advertisers to have more context to inform which types of streams they show their ads alongside, which we expect to increase brands’ confidence in running ads on Twitch, and could bring new advertisers to our service.”

Streamers who fail to use the label appropriately will receive email warnings and eventually, have their accounts suspended. Twitch may also intervene to apply labels without the streamer’s say-so.

The measures were announced on 1st November, and seem obviously timed to control the circulation of polemics during the US presidential elections on 5th November. The post above links to a longer but far from complete breakdown of the new content category – here are some examples of streams that will need the Politics and Sensitive Social Issues label in future:

Streams featuring former or current political officials if the content includes discussions with these individuals around public policies

Live coverage or commentary on elections, civic processes, or election-related disputes

Livestreams of protests, rallies, or civil unrest related to civil rights issues or government policies

Discussing military conflicts, foreign policy decisions, or national security matters

Discussing ideological or socio-political views on topics like gender, race, sexuality, or religion

Discussing legislation related to a sensitive social issue such as reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, or immigration

As for what doesn’t require a label, Twitch are fine with “streams containing informational or educational content that aim to share knowledge in a neutral, fact-based manner, rather than engaging in any kind of advocacy for an issue or candidate. For example, sharing the history of how votes in the US presidential election are counted to determine the next President, or merely encouraging individuals to vote or register to vote.” They’re also OK with “intermittent mentions of politics, politicians, or sensitive social issues”.

As many Twitch users have pointed out on social media, all these designations are quite blurry and therefore, easy to twist and weaponise against vulnerable groups. What does “intermittent” mean, exactly, as a proportion of total streaming time? Does “sharing knowledge in a neutral, fact-based manner” become “advocacy” when the facts presented lead to certain conclusions?

The ambiguity leaves the new category open to bad-faith reporting. The requirement to categorise “political” streams so people and advertisers can avoid them might also have a chilling effect on discussion of political narratives and themes in video games. Dragon Age: The Veilguard, for example, makes diversity a cornerstone of its writing, but a streamer discussing that would presumably risk having their streams labelled political and so, losing access to a chunk of potential viewers and ad revenue.