Harassment Education Article

Guidelines

  • Do not share the link to this education portal with others, as this is a beta program that’s available to participants only.
  • If you were assigned a quiz, read the following article before taking it below. You will have 1 attempt to score a 80% or higher in order to pass.

You’re viewing this page because you’ve violated Twitch’s Community Guidelines on Harassment. We strive to foster an environment where people can express themselves. But harmful behavior such as harassment hurts our community and makes Twitch less welcoming for everybody. As in all online communities, at Twitch, everyone has a role to play to support each other’s wellbeing and the health of their communities. Communication and creativity can’t happen if people don’t feel physically and emotionally safe.

So to help you understand what Twitch does not allow and to prevent you from being suspended again for violating Twitch’s guidelines against harassment, we developed the information and quiz below. You’ll learn why harassment violates our guidelines, how it affects people and why it’s not allowed on Twitch.

As you work your way through this resource, you’ll find a brief FAQ and some examples of violating behavior, followed by a quiz. If you get at least 80% of the answers correct, we will reduce the length of your suspension.

Note: If you’re a streamer, you are responsible for ensuring that content that appears in your channel abides by our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. If content that violates our Harassment policies appears on your stream or in chat, even if it is shared by others, we expect you to take the necessary steps to deal with this behavior (warn the harasser or report/remove the content) and make sure it does not happen again.

What do we mean by harassment that is not allowed on Twitch?

By “harassment” we mean behavior on Twitch that is mean, cruel, disrespectful, attacking, shaming or insulting toward another person. Often it’s repeatedly or persistently aimed at one individual.

Why can harassment be harmful?

Twitch is designed to be a safe space for all participants, and harassment keeps people from feeling safe and interacting freely. Harassment has the effect of silencing the victim and making them feel disrespected, excluded, threatened or put down. It’s an attack on their dignity and self-esteem, which can have a negative effect on their mental health, as well as the health of communities on Twitch. It can also easily lead to retaliation and greater conflict on the service.

Some misconceptions about harassment on Twitch

1. It’s okay to insult a streamer repeatedly because I’ve seen others in chat do it and not get timed out/banned. FALSE

Harassment is unwelcome or unwanted behavior – unless the target indicates that this is welcome behavior – you shouldn't do it.

2. It’s OK to spam “kill yourself” or “KYS” toward someone because it’s a commonly used slang and you don’t actually mean it. FALSE

While it’s common to express frustration when playing a game, it’s not OK to continue this behavior if the target indicates that it is unwanted.

3. It’s OK to make ambiguous threats like “I will find you and do something very bad to you” because it is not explicit or you don’t actually plan to follow through with it. FALSE

We understand that sometimes you joke around with your favorite streamer. But if the target indicates the comment is unwanted through timeouts or verbal warnings, you should stop.

Some more examples of content that violates Twitch’s policy on harassment:

  • Wishing someone harm (e.g., saying they should kill themselves or someone should hurt them)
  • Broadcasting a mean prank on someone to get other people to watch them being humiliated (e.g. prank calling)
  • A user telling someone in chat to come to their house and they’ll make them “disappear”
  • A guest saying another user is unbelievably ugly and the streamer agrees while livestreaming
  • A streamer repeatedly telling an opponent in a game they should kill themself
  • A user getting banned from a chat for calling the streamer a “fucking idiot,” then returning and doing the same thing in Whispers
  • A streamer going into a 5 min. rant about another streamer, calling them nasty names
  • Someone in chat talking about a tragic event that happened to another user (e.g. serious illness) and saying they deserved it
  • A streamer telling a user that they are going to find them in real life and make their life miserable
  • A streamer stream sniping another streamer while livestreaming, whether the target livestreams on or off Twitch
  • A user doxxing or swatting another streamer off-stream (see our Off-Service policy for more details)

    For more examples, click here.

What if I allow harassment to occur?

If someone attacks another person in a fit of anger during your livestream, you’re fine if you or your moderator(s) tell them to calm down (either verbally or through time-outs) and they do. But if they can’t calm down and keep harassing the other user, you or your moderator(s) need to take further mod actions or report them to Twitch. If you’re not a streamer or moderator and see harassing behavior in chat, you can also report the behavior to Twitch.