Twitch U-turns on 'artistic nudity' policy

Twitch, a renowned streaming platform, recently had to reverse a policy change it had implemented. The policy was aimed at permitting more adult content on the platform, provided it was classified as artistic. However, this decision resulted in an influx of AI-generated nudity. Twitch made this announcement on Wednesday, but by Friday, they had to retract it.

Dan Clancy, the CEO of Twitch, admitted that they had overstepped with this policy change. He acknowledged that some of the images that were permitted under the new guidelines had raised concerns within the Twitch community. Consequently, they resolved that depictions of real or fictional nudity would no longer be permitted on Twitch, irrespective of the medium.

Last week, Twitch, which is a subsidiary of Amazon, issued a comprehensive update to its sexual content policy. This update allowed for content that was previously prohibited. The primary alteration was the introduction of content creation labels on certain streams, requiring viewers to give consent before accessing such a stream. However, Mr. Clancy conceded that the issue had turned out to be more complex than initially anticipated. He pointed out that digital depictions of nudity pose a unique challenge as artificial intelligence can be used to create realistic images, making it difficult to differentiate between digital art and photography. The decision to reverse the policy change was prompted by an outcry from Twitch's art community over the surge of AI-generated nudes that flooded Twitch's art category following the policy change. The only exception to this rule is 'incidental nudity' that appears in mature-rated games. Mr. Clancy expressed regret for not foreseeing this outcome and apologized for the confusion caused by this update.