Twitch has reversed its artistic nudity policy.
The Amazon-owned streaming site was permitting adult material such as nude drawings and sculptures – providing it is deemed artistic - after its new guidelines came into place last week, however, the company has quickly made a U-turn.
CEO Dan Clancy said: "Effective today, we are rolling back the artistic nudity changes.
"Moving forward, depictions of real or fictional nudity won't be allowed on Twitch, regardless of the medium."
It comes after some of the X-rated content was "met with community concern".
Clancy continued: "Upon reflection, we have decided that we went too far with this change.
"Digital depictions of nudity present a unique challenge - artificial intelligence can be used to create realistic images, and it can be hard to distinguish between digital art and photography."
Angela Hession, Twitch's vice president of customer trust, last week acknowledged the challenges faced by streamers in interpreting the platform's rules and said in a blog post about the since-reversed update: “We have received consistent feedback from streamers... that it can be difficult to know how their content will be interpreted.
"We want streamers to feel confident they understand our rules and viewers to feel confident they will get the experience they expect."
Explicit content, including drawings, sculptures, and body painting, faced uncertainty regarding permissibility. Twitch, known for hosting a huge gaming community, also hosts diverse creative expressions, leading to confusion about the acceptability of certain content. The company had felt the policy was overly restrictive, particularly in its impact on the thriving artist community on the platform.
The site added content creation labels on specific streams, requiring viewer consent before accessing such content.
With this adjustment, many previously prohibited forms of content, including those deliberately highlighting body parts and erotic dances involving clothing removal, were briefly allowed, provided they were appropriately labeled.
Twitch had felt the changes addressed the issues created by the previous rules, preventing the restriction of activities like "twerking at a wedding" or pole dancing in exercise classes.
Twitch said it would issue warnings to streamers who fail to correctly label their content, ensuring appropriate categorisation for a more transparent and inclusive streaming environment.
