The Shadiest Things Twitch Has Ever Done
Twitch would be nothing without its streamers — so why is it taking such a huge cut of their money and blocking them from broadcasting to more fans? Twitch might be the king of streaming platforms, but these shady practices could have it dethroned.
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00:00Twitch would be nothing without its streamers.
00:03So why is it taking such a huge cut of their money and blocking them from broadcasting
00:06to more fans?
00:07Twitch might be the king of streaming platforms, but these shady practices could have it dethroned.
00:13Managing online security is one of the biggest challenges for any modern company.
00:17Companies like Twitch need to be cognizant of how they protect their data, because leaving
00:20it undefended can hurt huge amounts of people.
00:23With millions of users, some of whom make their living streaming, Twitch had a big responsibility
00:27when it came to data.
00:28In October 2021, the company confirmed via Twitter that someone had breached its servers.
00:33At the time, the company may have believed that the breach wasn't going to be all that
00:36serious.
00:37But when the data leaked out online, it quickly became clear that Twitch had been severely
00:41compromised.
00:42Hack the planet!
00:43Hack the planet!
00:45The leak that followed the breach spilled plenty of company secrets.
00:48We learned that Amazon had planned to create a Steam alternative that never ended up seeing
00:52the light of day, and Twitch's entire source code suddenly became available to everyone
00:56online.
00:57The biggest news for streamers was that the leak included Twitch's payout information,
01:00going all the way back to 2019, revealing that roughly half of all the money earned
01:04on Twitch went to the top 10 percent of streamers.
01:08In September 2022, Twitch made one of the most controversial decisions in the company's
01:12history.
01:13Then-President Dan Clancy wrote a blog post breaking down the company's decision to change
01:18how it handles revenue splits with streamers.
01:20According to the post, Twitch had unfairly been offering some top streamers a 70-30 split
01:24on subscriptions, rather than the typical 50-50 split, and it didn't have any standard
01:29criteria for who would get the better deal.
01:32Twitch's solution?
01:33End 70-30 splits for everyone.
01:35The post announced that anyone with a 70-30 deal could keep that split on the first $100,000
01:39in revenue they generated, but afterwards, the split would be reduced to 50-50.
01:43Going forward, the plan was that no one would be offered a 70-30 deal.
01:47In the post, Clancy cited server costs as one of the main motivators for Twitch to keep
01:5150 percent of streamers' subscription revenue, and offered a slightly better split on ad
01:55revenue to help streamers make up their lost profits.
01:58Streamers and fans alike were outraged.
02:00Many felt that 70-30 splits should be standard, especially since other platforms like Facebook
02:05and YouTube offer that deal to everyone.
02:07The ad revenue compromise pleased virtually no one.
02:10Viewers hate watching ads, so streamers hate running them.
02:13Very few are buying the claim that Twitch needs to make up for server costs, because
02:16Twitch's servers are owned by Amazon.
02:18In June 2023, Twitch rolled out a new way for partners to get 70 percent of their subscription
02:23revenue for the first $100,000 in earnings.
02:26Any Twitch partner who keeps 350 or more paid subscribers for three months can enroll in
02:30the Partner Plus program.
02:32The new 70-30 split only lasts for 12 months, and it's still a far cry from what streamers
02:37and their fans actually want, but the program is a sign that Twitch might be taking its
02:41users' concerns somewhat seriously.
02:44TwitchCon is supposed to be the most entertaining event in the entire streaming industry.
02:47It's a place where streamers and fans can come together to network in person and create
02:51content.
02:52Like streamers themselves, TwitchCon is a boisterous event that's more about having
02:55fun than creating a typical business convention environment.
02:582022's TwitchCon made a strong case that the event as a whole needs to be run a little
03:02more tightly.
03:03As part of the goofy atmosphere, the convention featured a massive phone pit where attendees
03:08could go to battle, likely getting some good clips for their channels in the process.
03:12It should've been a good way for people to let out some energy, but it turned into an
03:15unmitigated disaster.
03:17Adriana Cechik was seriously injured in the phone pit, which turned out to be just inches
03:21deep and set on top of a concrete slab.
03:23When Cechik fell into the pit, she broke her back in two places and needed to have extensive
03:28surgery, followed by plenty of physical therapy just to be able to walk again.
03:32She was the most severely injured person at the convention, but she was far from the only
03:36attendee who took a nasty tumble in the phone pit.
03:39Thankfully, following her injury, she made sure to keep worried fans up to date in her
03:42journey to recovery.
03:43"...January 9th, when I go to get my new MRI, I won't ever have to wear my brace again.
03:50Or they're gonna be like, yeah, you still need to wear it for, like, six hours a day."
03:54Twitch hit a breaking point with gambling streams in 2022.
03:57For years, the platform had allowed people to stream themselves playing just about any
04:01gambling game they wanted.
04:02Because of this, some streamers who played slots, roulettes, and poker had huge amounts
04:06of viewers turn up to watch them win, or perhaps more frequently, lose money.
04:10It's no secret that gambling can be addictive, and that addiction can make people do some
04:14awful things.
04:15In September 2022, Twitch streamer Slicker admitted that he'd scammed thousands of dollars
04:20out of viewers to support his own gambling habit.
04:23People had already been speaking out against the prevalence of gambling on Twitch, but
04:26after this incident, streamers started making their own stances on gambling crystal clear.
04:31Fans joined in the effort and began petitioning Twitch to completely remove gambling from
04:35the platform, arguing that it was harming viewers, particularly young ones, and roping
04:39more people into addictive behavior.
04:41The company eventually responded, updating its community guidelines to ban streaming
04:45of any, quote, sites that include slots, roulettes, or dice games that aren't licensed either
04:50in the U.S. or in other jurisdictions that provide sufficient consumer protection.
04:54Of course, that still leaves some wiggle room for gambling to exist on Twitch.
04:58Streamers and fans have been arguing that any form of gambling is damaging to the platform,
05:02so in all the ways that matter, Twitch still has a gambling problem.
05:05I shouldn't gamble.
05:06I still do it.
05:07Is that good?
05:08No!
05:09That's terrible!
05:10The upper echelons of any business serve two main functions.
05:13They make large-scale decisions for the company, and they also provide a sense of stability
05:17to all the people who regularly engage with that company.
05:20With some of its top executives fleeing the company, Twitch is not looking nearly as stable
05:23as it once did for many users.
05:25In March 2022, Bloomberg reported on the stunning number of employees that Twitch had lost.
05:30The company cut 300 employees in 2021, and another 60 decided to leave in the first three
05:35months of 2022.
05:37Among those who packed their bags were Twitch's chief operating officer, chief content officer,
05:42and head of content development.
05:43The trend of top-level executives getting away from Twitch didn't slow down as the year
05:47progressed, either.
05:49In September 2022, as the company was embroiled in a controversy surrounding its revenue splits,
05:54Constance Knight, senior vice president of global creators, also decided to call it a
05:59day.
06:00This might have been the year that Twitch turned things around, but the company instead
06:02got its biggest shake-up yet.
06:04On March 16th, CEO Emmett Shea, who co-founded Justin.tv, which later became Twitch, announced
06:10on Twitter that he was resigning from his position.
06:12Shea wrote that his confidence in Twitch had never been higher, but the rest of the community
06:16might not have been so sure.
06:19It's inevitable that a company as large as Twitch is going to accept people from time
06:22to time as various problems arise.
06:24Sometimes issues on Twitch brew for months or years before they finally spark outrage.
06:28But Twitch faced the fallout of its new ad policy the moment the company announced its
06:32latest move.
06:33On June 6th, 2023, Twitch unveiled a slew of changes to how advertising works on its
06:38platform.
06:39The new policies put restrictions on logos, limiting them to 3 percent or less of total
06:43screen space, and banned burn-in ads outright.
06:46Streamers generate the vast majority of their income through ads and sponsorships, so they
06:50were immediately up in arms about the decision, which limited these avenues.
06:54Plenty of streamers called out the move as a blatant cash grab from Twitch, and big names
06:58like Asmongold even called for a boycott of the platform.
07:01Luckily for the company, the new policy also addressed the potential for streamers fleeing
07:05Twitch by adding a $25 charge for any Twitch partners trying to leave.
07:09Largely thanks to the extreme outcry from streamers and fans, the new branded content
07:13policy didn't stay in place for long.
07:16Twitch quickly reversed course and announced via Twitter that it would be completely reworking
07:19the new guidelines.
07:21Every right was certainly welcome, but Twitch showed its hand with the new policy, and rebuilding
07:25trust between the company and its streamers is going to be an uphill battle.
07:28In the weeks that followed, major streamers like Amaranth and XQC left Twitch to join
07:33rival streaming platform Kik.
07:35When the entire streaming community was rallying against Twitch for trying to cut into the
07:39ad revenue of its streamers, the company quietly made another pivotal change to its terms of
07:43service.
07:44Simulcasting is an important capability for streamers who aren't locked into a platform-specific
07:48contract.
07:49It lets them share their stream on multiple platforms at the same time, meeting their
07:52audience wherever they may be at.
07:55Simulcasting doesn't just help streamers grow their audience, it also helps connect viewers
07:58on different platforms and encourages them to potentially take a look at a site they
08:02may not regularly visit.
08:03"'Cause am I gonna choose streaming to YouTube, TikTok, Kik, other plat, Facebook, all at
08:07the same time, or am I gonna just only stream to Twitch and make no money?"
08:12That's no longer an option for anyone who wants to stream on Twitch.
08:14When Twitch updated its policies on June 6th, 2023, it also killed simulcasting for all
08:19its users, restricting them to only sharing their Twitch streams in short formats on sites
08:24like TikTok and Instagram.
08:26Previously, that rule had only applied to Twitch partners and affiliates.
08:29Streamers were quick to share their opinions.
08:31Ninja said that Twitch's latest move only hurts their platform and the creators on their
08:35site.
08:36While reacting to Ninja's take on the issue, XQC explained to his channel that, in his
08:39view, Twitch is trying to lock in streamers and viewers alike by restricting them to a
08:43single platform.
08:44XQC said he thinks this strategy is bound to fail.
08:47He argued,
08:48This likely contributed to XQC's decision to jump ship shortly thereafter.
09:00In 2022, Bloomberg published an exclusive report on one of the most disturbing problems
09:04facing Twitch, a rash of child predators reportedly using Twitch to groom children.
09:09Twitch doesn't allow anyone under the age of 13 to make an account on the platform,
09:13but the barrier to entry is relatively low, so plenty of children have been making accounts
09:17and streaming from their phones.
09:19The report found nearly 2,000 different Twitch accounts that primarily followed accounts
09:22from children.
09:23Finding accounts that watched kids would have been bad enough, but Bloomberg also encountered
09:27many instances of these accounts interacting with the children they were watching.
09:31Some would ask them to do suggestive dances, and others would attempt to get the kids to
09:35move to a more private platform like Snapchat or Discord to keep talking.
09:40The report also pointed out that while child predators are a problem everywhere online,
09:43they seem to have an outsized presence on Twitch.
09:46After the report, Twitch made an announcement introducing some changes aimed at addressing
09:50these concerns.
09:51The company beefed up age verification processes in an attempt to reduce the number of kids
09:55under 13 using the platform, as well as blocked certain search terms that are frequently used
10:00by predatory accounts.
10:01Twitch also partnered with outside organizations for assistance and acquired Spirit AI to enhance
10:06its ability to monitor chat conversations.
10:09Those are all welcome changes, but the problem is far from solved.
10:13The nature of Twitch's user-generated content and dynamic community building has pushed
10:17the question of who is responsible for policing toxic behavior on Twitch streams.
10:21Many users and streamers have argued Twitch itself should be working harder to eliminate
10:25harassers as a governing body of the service.
10:27However, given the influence that streamers and event organizers have over their communities,
10:31Twitch has sometimes tried to place more of that responsibility in the hands of those
10:35running the stream.
10:36Trying to eliminate every negative voice while running an entertaining stream is a difficult
10:39job.
10:40The creator of Zombie Kills described her struggle in an article for Tom's Hardware.
10:44She planned to run a scheduled stream of Minecraft Dungeons with her daughter, to be featured
10:48on Twitch's front page as an exciting opportunity for anyone on the platform.
10:51However, during the stream, she had to ban 54 users for sexist and racist comments.
10:57Zombie Kills has far from alone.
10:59Female streamers have reported that their most significant obstacle to success on Twitch
11:03is harassment.
11:04While Twitch told NBC in 2019 it had doubled the staff dedicated to dealing with harassment,
11:09the issue remains.
11:10What do you think?
11:11Is it worth it?
11:12Let us know in the comments!
11:14Don't forget to like and subscribe!
11:15See you next time!