Twitch just updated their community guidelines with a new section aimed at weeding out those who spread "harmful misinformation." The new section is listed as "Harmful Misinformation Actors" and some streamers have already gotten hit with the ban hammer as a result of this new policy update.
Twitch says that this policy probably isn't going to "impact you or the streamers you love on Twitch. Our goal is to prohibit individuals whose online presence is dedicated to spreading harmful, false information from using Twitch." This policy is aimed at those who very regularly share false information that is violent, harmful, and has already been "widely disproven and broadly shared."
In order to reduce harm to our community and the public without undermining our streamers’ open dialogue with their communities, we also prohibit harmful misinformation superspreaders who persistently share misinformation on or off of Twitch. We seek to remove users whose online presence is dedicated to (1) persistently sharing (2) widely disproven and broadly shared (3) harmful misinformation topics.
- Misinformation that targets protected groups, which is already prohibited under our Hateful Conduct & Harassment Policy
- Harmful health misinformation and wide-spread conspiracy theories related to dangerous treatments, COVID-19, and COVID-19 vaccine misinformation
- Discussions of treatments that are known to be harmful without noting the dangers of such treatments
- For COVID-19—and any other WHO-declared Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)—misinformation that causes imminent physical harm or is part of a broad conspiracy
- Misinformation promoted by conspiracy networks tied to violence and/or promoting violence
- Civic misinformation that undermines the integrity of a civic or political process
- Promotion of verifiably false claims related to the outcome of a fully vetted political process, including election rigging, ballot tampering, vote tallying, or election fraud*
- In instances of public emergencies (e.g., wildfires, earthquakes, active shootings), we may also act on misinformation that may impact public safety
Now, if only other platforms would take the same sort of stance. Social media sites like Twitter and Facebook should also begin to take harsher stances on the spread of misinformation, and don't even get me started on how YouTube continues to be a more than welcoming home for these sorts of people.
