Twitch suddenly bans bikini streamers – they fear for their livelihood

Streamers SpookyUnagi and SpoopyKitt were suddenly banned from Twitch despite not changing their content. The two find it funny and complain about the platform, which recently formulated its guidelines regarding “sexual content” more clearly.

What are bikini streamers? Twitch introduced a new “Pools, Hot Tubs, and Beaches” category, allowing streamers to show themselves in swimwear. However, the permit only applies if they are on the beach or in a pool.

This created a new, successful Twitch meta and streamers in particular showed themselves freely in bikinis. Amouranth and her ASMR streams became well known as a result.

But now Twitch suddenly seems to be taking action against such bikini streamers, because SpookyUnagi and SpoopyKitt were both banned in early May. They are not the only ones, they say and tell of streamer colleagues who were also expelled from the platform out of the blue (via Twitter).

More bans on Twitch in our video:

SpookyUnagi and SpoopyKitt affirm: The content has not changed

What does SpookyUnagi say? SpookyUnagi was banned for 3 days on May 1st. The second ban followed on May 9th. The streamer now fears for her livelihood and complains to Twitch that she never changed anything about her content:

Twitch allows creators to build a career and life on content they allowed for a year. Independent workers who essentially work “for” Twitch buy homes, cars, capital goods and have ongoing income for investments. And they threaten to take it all away, with unjustified bans.

(via Twitter)

She also says that Twitch has the right to remove bikini streams because it’s her site. However, she calls for clearer guidelines regarding such streams, because the category still exists. The streamer also thinks bots could be behind the bans that Twitch channels keep reporting (via Twitter).

What does SpoopyKitt say? SpoopyKitt was banned on May 6th and unbanned after 3 days. She also does not understand why she was suddenly expelled from the platform.

She wrote down Twitter: “I’ve been hula-hooping in the pool for a year, so I don’t know why it’s suddenly considered ‘sexually suggestive’. Twitch posted ‘Increasing the Clarity of Our Sexual Content Policy’, which states, ‘This is not a change to the policy or its enforcement.'”

The streamer has not changed anything in their content that justifies the exclusion.

Twitch Adjusts Clarity on Sexual Content Policies

What does that mean? Twitch added more examples of sexual content that could trigger a ban in late April, but didn’t change the guidelines per se. “Sexually suggestive” includes things like:

• Camera focus on breasts, buttocks, genital area or poses that emphasize those areas.
• Fumbling or explicit gestures toward the breasts, buttocks, or genitals.
• Behavior or activities related to fetishes, such as focusing on body parts for sexual gratification or erotic role-playing.
• Erotic dances (on a pole) designed to be sexually suggestive.

Check out Zach Bussey’s tweet for more details:

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Now some streamers and the community are speculating whether these definitions could have something to do with the bans from Twitch.

Some users celebrate the bans and believe that such streamers have no place on the platform anyway. Twitch is only for gaming.

What does Twitch say about this? Twitch itself has not yet commented on the bans and the current situation.

A small dog was probably too suggestive for the platform: Twitch bans harmless dog emote – “Shows sexual content or nudity”