{"id":69398,"date":"2018-03-22T11:01:32","date_gmt":"2018-03-22T16:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=69398"},"modified":"2018-03-22T11:04:52","modified_gmt":"2018-03-22T16:04:52","slug":"twitch-gamers-hope-new-community-guidelines-will-combat-online-harassment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/twitch-gamers-hope-new-community-guidelines-will-combat-online-harassment\/","title":{"rendered":"Twitch gamers hope new community guidelines will combat online harassment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Jourdan Kerl<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Medill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"dropcap\">The live streaming video platform Twitch improved\u00a0online security this March to protect professional and amateur streamers from harassment and hate speech that have plagued some users.<\/p>\n<p>Twitch, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, updated the Community Guidelines to reflect how\u00a0important community of streamers is to the platform to combat the issues surrounding hateful conduct. A statement released in February\u00a0gave users a better idea of what would take effect in March.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cConduct we deem to be hateful will result in an immediate indefinite suspension. Hate simply has no place in the Twitch community,\u201d the statement stated. \u201cOur goal is to ensure Twitch is a place where everyone feels welcome and we will continue to listen to you as we grow and adapt these policies as needed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Twitch Harassment of African-American Streamers\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/261323274?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"featurecaption\">Chicago streamers Tanya DePass, Brandon Stennis and Dennis White, Jr. share their thoughts on the new Community Guidelines in the video.<\/div>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Twitch didn&#8217;t respond to an email request for further comment.<\/p>\n<p>Since its founding in 2011, Twitch has grown to be one of the largest forums on the Internet for content creators with audiences that now rival some traditional broadcast networks.<\/p>\n<p>According to data from Macquarie analyst Benjamin Schachter via StreetInsider.com, Twitch\u2019s average concurrent viewership in January\u00a0reached 962,000. The Esports Observer juxtaposed this number with major network viewership. The report showed that the 2017 total day viewership for Fox News Channel and ESPN peaked at 1.5 million viewers, followed by MSNBC at 885,000 and CNN at 783,000.<\/p>\n<p>This global reach of the platform, ignited by instant interaction, also attracted\u00a0 \u201cinternet trolls,\u201d\u00a0people who deliberately antagonize others online with offensive remarks. They seek targets that they deem as suitable victims. While streamers have the power to ban a user from their channel, nothing stops someone from creating a new account and returning to continue the bad behavior, according to Brandon Stennis, a &#8220;partnered&#8221; (professional)\u00a0Twitch streamer who goes by iamBrandon.<\/p>\n<p>African-American streamers\u00a0have faced this problem even more prevalently since the start of Twitch. However, the online bullying came front and center for Twitch during a broadcast of Blizzard Entertainment\u2019s &#8220;Hearthstone&#8221; competition.<\/p>\n<p>Professional gamer Terrence \u201cTerrenceM\u201d Miller competed on one of esports largest stages at the Dreamhack Austin convention in May 2016. A flood of racist commentary spread through the Twitch chat during the event, forcing Blizzard and Twitch to release statements on how they planned to to make the community better. The first of new community guidelines to protect users were issued in February 2017.<\/p>\n<p>The second round of guidelines\u00a0came this year,\u00a0 according to the archive of Community Guidelines\u2019 changes.<\/p>\n<p>Streamers, like Tanya DePass and Brandon Stennis, have faced these harassment issues but are hopeful for the bright future of Twitch.<\/p>\n<div class=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: Screenshot of Twitch&#8217;s most popular channels from\u00a0 Thursday morning. (Jourdan Kerl\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Jourdan Kerl Medill Reports The live streaming video platform Twitch improved\u00a0online security this March to protect professional and amateur streamers from harassment and hate speech that have plagued some users. Twitch, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, updated the Community Guidelines to reflect how\u00a0important community of streamers is to the platform to combat the issues surrounding [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":442,"featured_media":69607,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194,28,3987],"tags":[192],"class_list":["post-69398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-general-interest","category-winter-2018","tag-promo"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Twitch gamers hope new community guidelines will combat online harassment - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/twitch-gamers-hope-new-community-guidelines-will-combat-online-harassment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Twitch gamers hope new community guidelines will combat online harassment - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jourdan Kerl Medill Reports The live streaming video platform Twitch improved\u00a0online security this March to protect professional and amateur streamers from harassment and hate speech that have plagued some users. Twitch, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, updated the Community Guidelines to reflect how\u00a0important community of streamers is to the platform to combat the issues surrounding [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/twitch-gamers-hope-new-community-guidelines-will-combat-online-harassment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-22T16:01:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-22T16:04:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/03\/FEATURE-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"784\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jourdankerl2018\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jourdankerl2018\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/twitch-gamers-hope-new-community-guidelines-will-combat-online-harassment\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/twitch-gamers-hope-new-community-guidelines-will-combat-online-harassment\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"jourdankerl2018\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e39f640b49fc13b67b98c0175e1280bf\"},\"headline\":\"Twitch gamers hope new community guidelines will combat online harassment\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-22T16:01:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-22T16:04:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/twitch-gamers-hope-new-community-guidelines-will-combat-online-harassment\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":480,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/twitch-gamers-hope-new-community-guidelines-will-combat-online-harassment\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\\\/chicago\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/FEATURE-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"promo\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Arts &amp; 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