Twitch's 'Artistic Nudity' Banhammer Drama Explained

It seems like a new Twitch meta makes waves on the platform every few months, with streamers trying out different forms of trending content in an attempt to grow their subscriber count. A couple of years ago, streaming from hot tubs was all the rage, enticing new viewers while infuriating a vocal section of the Twitch fanbase. In recent days, a "topless meta" has pushed the boundaries of Twitch's Terms of Service like never before. And much like the hot tub meta before it, the exploding popularity (and subsequent penalties) of topless streaming has convinced Twitch to make some drastic changes to its content policies. Unfortunately, the rollout of Twitch's new policies regarding "artistic depictions of nudity" has not gone smoothly, resulting in further bans, suspensions, and policy changes.

The topless meta, for those who have missed the discourse, involves streamers framing their camera in such a way that it suggests the illusion of nudity. In other words, many of these streamers aren't actually naked while broadcasting, but their bare shoulders and low necklines imply otherwise. Morgpie and AsianBunny were two of the most popular content creators participating in the trend, with the latter seeming to be the one who launched the whole thing. Both of them have since received suspensions for their steamy broadcasts. As Morgpie told Dexerto, "She was getting crazy views with it, so I decided to try it myself, and I got the most views I've ever gotten doing it. So, I think the numbers kind of talk on Twitch, and whatever gets the most views that's within TOS." It seems this is true, as the popularity of the meta has led to Twitch allowing for some forms of nudity on the platform — a move that seems to have royally backfired.

According to a lengthy Dec. 13 blog post from Twitch, the platform realized that many of its rules surrounding nudity and sexual content were "out of line with industry standards and resulted in female-presenting streamers being disproportionately penalized." Because of this, the company briefly loosened up on certain forms of adult-oriented content, provided that the streamers participating in them labeled their broadcast with appropriate warnings. Things that were allowed on Twitch with the proper label included "Content that 'deliberately highlighted breasts, buttocks or pelvic region,' even when fully clothed," "Fictionalized (drawn, animated, or sculpted) fully exposed female-presenting breasts and/or genitals or buttocks regardless of gender," and body writing or body paint. Additionally, "Popular dances, such as twerking, grinding, and pole dancing are now allowed without a label." That's right; Twitch officially announced this week that the days of getting banned for twerking are over. 

These policies also theoretically meant that artists were no longer in danger of being banned for doing nude sketches and paintings during their broadcasts. Unfortunately, taking a quick look through Reddit and X (formerly Twitter) revealed a number of artists being suspended or outright banned for doing exactly that. 

It's been pointed out that some streamers may have forgotten to tick the "Sexual Themes" content warning before broadcasting. However, more than one of these banned streamers claimed to have done just that, only to be banned without a warning. Because of this, some streamers are already rethinking the kinds of content they want to bring to their channel in the future.

I think most people are forgetting to do this (Not sure in your case) But there's a content classification you have to tick. pic.twitter.com/EIjkVTtNEN

— MikzShadow (@MikzShadow) December 14, 2023

"I don't trust Twitch lol [they're] making it too easy to get permabanned because no one reads the fine print," posted @Vanillaicie on X. "I haven't even hit partner yet I have a lot to lose." Other streamers seemed to share these concerns, as well as a sense of confusion surrounding the new Twitch policies. @Nuenie asked, "Why am I hearing about people getting mad reported and banned on Twitch for drawing normal non explicit art ... Should I not stream art for a while?"

Some started to wonder if Twitch's new policy rollout was actually a ruse the platform concocted in order to bring the banhammer down on artists and variety streamers. While this is highly unlikely, posts like this go a long way towards showing how confusing the last few days have been for Twitch streamers. So confusing, in fact, that Twitch has quickly reversed its position on adult content in streams.

Wait what if the twitch guideline update was a fake to get all the people banned https://t.co/mQPGu8RYWO

— ronin (@wydronin) December 15, 2023

On December 15, two days after rolling out its new guidelines surrounding artistic nudity, Twitch has responded to the flood of bans and concerned users. The platform has decided to essentially roll back all of the rules it laid out earlier this week. A post from Twitch CEO Dan Clancy explained that the company has reprimanded a number of streamers who have abused the new terms of conduct. However, many others were able to get away with creating and broadcasting art that was technically allowed by the new policies, but were against the platform's values.

"Upon reflection, we have decided that we went too far with this change," Clancy wrote. "Digital depictions of nudity present a unique challenge–AI can be used to create realistic images, and it can be hard to distinguish between digital art and photography. So, effective today, we are rolling back the artistic nudity changes. Moving forward, depictions of real or fictional nudity won't be allowed on Twitch, regardless of the medium." Confusingly, Clancy added that M-Rated games are not impacted by these restrictions.

Fans on social media are already hoping that Twitch will find some happy medium between the previous content restrictions and the free-for-all that the last few days became. It remains to be seen when Twitch will revisit these policies again, but it probably won't be long before another meta arises to test the company's boundaries.