Twitch will require new labels for streams with sexual themes, gambling and M-rated games

techcrunch.com:

Twitch is rethinking the way it flags mature content, swapping its existing toggle for a more granular set of topic-specific labels.

The company announced Tuesday that it would introduce anew set of content labels that require streamers to signal when their channels will contain sexual themes, graphic violence, “drugs, intoxication, or excessive tobacco use,” gambling or “significant” profanity or vulgarity. Those new labels roll out today to all Twitch users.

The labels will also display when a streamer is playing a game with a Mature ESRB rating, which applies to games intended for players 17 and up. In the case of Mature-rated games, that label will be applied automatically.

“I don’t expect this is a major change, we do however to make sure it’s not a scary one or a punitive one for you,” Twitch Chief Chief Product Officer Tom Verrilli said in a livestream explaining the changes.

“Our goal here again is better nuance from the existing mature flag — it helps you be clearer in that label and it helps viewers and advertisers make better decisions about how they show up around your content.”

Twitch is careful to emphasize that nothing is changing about its rules defining what is and is not allowed on the platform. Instead, the labels are intended to classify and sort a range of content that is allowed, but now must be labeled appropriately.

The new labels are dynamic and can be added and removed throughout a stream as needed, so if only a short segment of a five hour livestream contains sexually-themed content (e.g. “content intended to draw attention to an individual’s buttocks, groin, or breasts for a prolonged time”), that label can be toggled on and then off again for that portion of the stream.

These content classifiers are