Twitch has announced that it will be replacing the Mature Content toggle with new Content Classification Labels. It said that content containing the following items and themes will be marked with the label to help people avoid mature content:
- Mature-Rated Games
- Sexual Themes
- Drugs, Intoxication, or Excessive Tobacco Use
- Violent and Graphic Depictions
- Significant Profanity or Vulgarity
- Gambling
Labelling a stream isn’t difficult to do for content creators, they just need to go into the Stream Manager, head to Edit Stream Info and look for Content Classification. From a drop-down, they can apply all the labels that are relevant.
After a stream ends, the labels will be carried over to the next stream unless they’re manually removed. The labels will also be applied to any videos on demand associated with the stream.
In addition to these labels, Twitch has built-in ESRB mature-rated game labels that will be applied to a stream automatically. If you move over to a non-M-rated game, the label will automatically be removed.
Broadcasters will be responsible for applying the appropriate labels to their stream, failure to do so will result in a warning via email and the correct label being applied to their stream. Luckily for creators, no suspensions will be handed out for not accurately labelling their stream.
The platform said that if users repeatedly fail to label their content, the label will be applied for them and locked in place for days or weeks depending on the number of prior warnings. If you want to dive into all the technicalities surrounding the labels, then you need to check out the Content Classification guidelines.
The decision by Twitch has a few reasons behind it. First, they want to help protect younger audiences from being exposed to crass content. Secondly, it will help advertisers place content as some brands may not want to appear alongside some foul-mouthed gamer.
In its own words, the company said:
“In addition to helping streamers connect with viewers who are more likely to be a good fit for their communities, these labels also help protect younger viewers and advertisers. Content labeling has become a common practice across the media and entertainment industry, both from a safety perspective and to provide important information that helps advertisers better target the content their ads appear alongside.”
The Content Classification Labels are available from today. If you are a viewer, you can report streams if you believe they’re missing a label. Violators of these new rules won’t receive label locks as punishment until July 20, to give them time to learn the new rules.