Twitch is one of the fastest growing companies in tech. With nearly 140 million users, the platform is the go-to app for streaming content online. BGN had the opportunity to speak with a few executives from Twitch which includes Angela Hession, VP of Global Trust and Safety, Rachel Delphin, CMO of Twitch and Laura Lee, Chief Content Officer of Twitch. BGN also spoke with Ryan Morrison, CEO of Evolved Talent Agency, he also represents xQc, one of the most popular streamers on the platform.
Last year at TwitchCon San Diego, BGN covered a Twitch panel of executives from the Trust and Safety team. This year at TwitchCon Las Vegas, in a one-on-one interview with Angela Hession who is the VP of Global Trust and Safety, she shares what has changed from last year’s keynote. One particular policy they have become more stringent on is doxxing and swatting. “If anyone is doxxed or swatted off of our service, and they are a community member that’s doing it, we will suspend them indefinitely on our service,” she says. In other words, if a Twitch streamer elects to dox someone on another social media platform like X or Instagram, they are in violation of Twitch’s terms of service.
Hession’s team has launched a safety series that provides more community tools for moderators. The team’s goal is also to explore more complex issues like grooming and deepfake adult content. NCEI (non-consensual exploitative images) is 99% targeted towards women. “We definitely will suspend people if they persistently share any of those images,” she says. Her team also has aggressive machine learning models to identify underage users to which she adds, “We send that over to our investigation team, who will use a two-factor authentication in order to validate these types of accounts, and make sure they’re not coming on to Twitch under the age of 13.”
There has been some recent controversy on the issue of doxxing in the YouTube community. One of YouTube’s most popular users SSSniperwolf doxxed the address of fellow YouTuber Jacksfilms. YouTube’s response to the policy violation was heavily criticized by users. The reason this became a hot topic is because of SSSniperwolf’s popularity on YouTube’s platform, and the millions of viewers she gets on all of her videos; benefits YouTube’s bottom line. While Hession did not comment on the specific incident involving the two YouTubers, she believes in equity for the platform. “I don’t care if you’re a large streamer, small streamer or a new streamer, our community guidelines are applicable to you no matter what level of streamer you are,” she says.
Another controversy that has unfolded recently, is freebooting content from other streamers using reaction videos. Twitch streamer xQc recently was caught in the crosshairs of this issue when critics showed examples of reaction videos from his streams without providing any transformative feedback. Evolved CEO Ryan Morrison and founding partner of Morrison LLP is an attorney. He’s currently xQc’s talent manager and he spoke briefly to BGN about the matter. “I’m an IP attorney first. The understanding with our clients is if you’re going to make react content or you’re going to utilize other people’s IP in any capacity, it is not a right. It is a defense. Transformative is only one of the four factors and there’s other things in play, and you need to make it your own and contribute to change,” he says. He describes xQC, also known as Felix, as “a bit of a character”. Morrison believes the scrutiny his client gets is sometimes cherry-picked. “He doesn’t go around enforcing his own rights even though he could or should essentially at his size. I recommend he does but he also gets licenses from many more people than he admits, when people think he doesn’t,” he adds.
As we explore more of Twitch’s ecosystem, there are huge IRL (in real life) events like TwitchCon to help continue to bring brand awareness and foster that online community that has made the streaming company successful. Rachel Delphin, CMO of Twitch articulates how these events have always been a part of their strategy. Not everyone can attend TwitchCon, so the company is bringing Twitch to their users. “We’ve done more third party events this year than we’ve done previously. So actually having booths and streamer booths, particularly in places where we don’t have a TwitchCon,” she says. Brands are also a big part of why TwitchCon is successful, which Delpin notes is because of the streamers. “Part of the reason brands come here is because streamers and content creators are influential over communities of people and demographics that they’re really interested in tapping into,” she says.
Rachel encourages streamers who wish to utilize Twitch’s platform as a future entrepreneur, to think of themselves as a brand. “What am I into? What are my three words? Having a really good sense of who you are, and what you want to present helps to distinguish you and will also help guide decision making because you’re trying to tell a story,” she adds.
While Twitch has successfully launched in-person events like TwitchCon and has helped make the space safer for users, the concern over creator payout for streamers still raises questions from critics. Laura Lee, Chief Content Officer at Twitch understands these concerns. “We got a lot of feedback, a lot of not so happy feedback, which is understandable. A key part of my role is adjusting that and trying to figure out how can we be better? How can we learn from our mistakes? Part of the reason why we launched partner plus is because we’re trying to incentivize creators who are on the cusp of or just made that full time leap with us,” she says. Lee says she’s hopeful about next year as they continue to do the work, knowing more improvements can be made.
One major win for Twitch streamers is the ability for its users to simulcast to other platforms. This can also be a potential increase in revenue and audience growth for users as they choose to use Twitch to simulcast to other platforms like YouTube. “As we take in this feedback, we’re trying to be thoughtful about our streamers along their entire creative journey, we want to give them opportunities to have more flexibility and more freedom. We want to try to do more of what’s right for all of our streamers of different sizes,” she adds.
While Twitch has navigated the hills and valleys of being a large brand and interactive live streaming service, at the end of the day, the community of creators and users are the heart and soul of the company. Lee as well as many of the executives at Twitch, lean on customer feedback to help improve policy and create a space where people can freely express themselves, feel safer online, foster a supportive community and (if they choose to) grow a brand and build a business.
