Twitch Suspends Female Creators - ASMR Stream Controversy

Twitch Suspends Streamers Amouranth and Indiefoxx Over Content Guidelines

Amouranth and Indiefoxx, two well-known Twitch streamers, have recently faced suspensions as Twitch continues to grapple with enforcing its regulations concerning sexually suggestive material.

Recent Suspensions and Twitch's Response

Both content creators were temporarily removed from the platform following ASMR broadcasts that tested the limits of Twitch’s community standards. These guidelines aim to prohibit content that, while not explicitly sexual, is deemed too provocative for a service sensitive to its advertising partnerships.

The Amazon-owned company has refrained from providing details regarding the duration of the bans or the specific reasons behind them. However, they directed TechCrunch to their established policies on sexual content for further clarification.

It remains uncertain whether Kaitlyn Siragusa (Amouranth) and Jenelle Dagres (Indiefoxx) will be reinstated on Monday, 72 hours after their Friday suspensions. As of this writing, both channels are still inaccessible.

Details of the Suspensions

Siragusa confirmed to Polygon that her suspension stemmed from a stream featuring yoga poses accompanied by ear-licking sounds directed into a microphone.

See this tweet from Indiefoxx: https://twitter.com/indiefoxxlive/status/1405924671678259203

The Rise of ASMR and Hot Tubs on Twitch

The current situation with ASMR echoes the controversy surrounding hot tub streams that gained prominence last month. In both cases, some Twitch streamers express the belief that the platform’s rules are applied inconsistently.

“I observed two other female streamers engaging in ASMR meta and yoga poses, achieving 2-5k views without bans for months before I incorporated the activity into my ASMR streams, creating the ‘ASMR’ meta,” Siragusa explained on Twitter.

“These other streamers remain unbanned and continue their broadcasts. My mistake was interpreting the lack of action as implicit approval, and then significantly increasing viewership to 30k.”

Misogyny and the Twitch Community

Given that both the ASMR and hot tub trends are largely driven by female streamers, the situation has unfortunately amplified misogynistic behavior within the Twitch community. Female streamers continue to experience regular harassment leading to them being driven off the platform.

Twitch's Previous Statements on "Sexiness"

In a blog post addressing the surge in streams featuring women in pools and hot tubs, Twitch stated that “being found to be sexy by others does not violate our rules, and Twitch will not take enforcement action against women, or anyone on our service, for their perceived attractiveness.”

The company clarified that while a swimsuit worn in a bedroom might be problematic, “contextually appropriate” swimwear is permissible.

Acknowledging Rule Complexity and Creating Categories

Twitch also recognized the inherent difficulty in interpreting its own rules.

As a solution, they introduced a dedicated “Pools, Hot Tubs, and Beaches” category to house such content. The majority of Twitch’s categories are focused on specific games, with non-gaming streams typically categorized under “Just Chatting.”

ASMR Category and Future Policy Changes

ASMR has its own category, boasting 2.4 million followers, which includes ear-tingling streams that adhere to Twitch’s guidelines. However, a newer wave of ASMR streams pushes those boundaries.

Instead of developing a more comprehensive approach to managing sexually suggestive content, Twitch is currently relying on punishing those who, in their judgment, cross the line. However, the company announced last month that it is working on new policies to provide greater clarity regarding these rules.

Ongoing Challenges for Twitch

The prevalence of ear-licking streams suggests that Twitch will likely continue to face these same challenges repeatedly as it attempts to define acceptable content within a gray area of its own creation, particularly impacting female creators disproportionately.