Will Twitch's success inspire other platforms to tighten content rules?

The UK's digital regulator, Ofcom, has congratulated the game streaming platform Twitch for the content labeling policy it introduced last year. Ofcom said it noticed more streams were now more accurately labeled, helping users, especially children, avoid inappropriate content.

For some background, in June 2023, Twitch said it was introducing Content Classification Labels. The labels included Mature-Rated Games; Sexual Themes; Drugs, Intoxication, or Excessive Tobacco Use; Violent and Graphic Depictions; Significant Profanity or Vulgarity; and Gambling. Streamers are responsible for applying the appropriate labels and failing to do so leads to a telling-off via email and labels being forced onto streams without the option to remove them for a certain period.

To see how well the system worked, Ofcom analyzed data from more than 3 million streams between March and December 2023. It found that content labeling increased substantially when the change was introduced. There was also a reduction in mislabeling of streams as mature.

Ofcom also found that the new rules have not changed the type of content that creators are making, nor have the number of viewers of mature streams changed substantially. This suggests one of three things, younger users are still watching, younger users weren't watching before, or Twitch's userbase is growing with new users replacing young viewers to keep viewing numbers up.

Nevertheless, with governments, including the UK government, tightening up child safety rules, Ofcom's findings suggest this is an effective method to help people identify the nature of streams before they start watching. Given that it seems to work, it seems like a policy that other companies could use on their platforms so that they don't get into trouble with the authorities.

Ofcom said it will continue to monitor companies like Twitch that are established in the UK. Once the Online Safety Act comes into force, platforms like Twitch will be forced to prevent kids from accessing pornography and other harmful materials on their platforms.