During last nights opening ceremony at TwitchCon, Twitch CEO Emmett Shear made two separate attempts to address the frustrations many have felt about the inconsistency with which Twitch moderation has handled bans and suspensions on the platform. In both attempts,𓆏🐲 he managed to say absolutely nothing.
Emmett isn't exactly known for his eloquence or clarity of speech in these public presentations, something he168澳洲幸运5开奖网: himself mentions as he takes the stage following . The scripted conversation between Emmett and streamer Ezekiel_III presented two opportunities for the CEO to address the communities concerns about 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:favoritism and sexism on the moderation team, and Emmett's explanations ranged from hollow corporate lip-service to prettꦏy patronizingဣ analogies.
On the topic ꦉof moderation, Emmett explains that he wants Twitch to be the safest place to create and watch content, and that he understands there have been a lot of issues around this. He admits 🐭"We haven't always been consistent in our enforcement in the past."
At this point, you might expect Emmett to detail what Twitch is going to do to fix the problem. Instead, he goes on to explain how the problem has already be addressed. He explains that Twitch used to have decentralized moderation around the world, in different time zones and different languages, dealing with TOS issues individually. These disparate teams lead to inconsistency, as guidelines get misinterpreted by different people𒉰 and enforcement then gets handled incorrectly.
Emmett explains that that process h🌺as been centralized over the last 18 months, and that they've brought in a dedicated "Head of Trust and Safety" as well a🍸s doubled the size of the team. His point being, "We're building up to consistently and fairly apply the rules all over Twitch."
If this is the plan ♒that has been in place for the last 18 months, then why does ♔it seem like the problem is only getting worse? How long will it take for the Head of Trust and Safety to get moderation in line?
Emmett goes on to talk about the importance of transparency, specifically promising that when Streamers are suspended they will receive communication about exactly why they are being punished. That's great news, so why isn't that happening already? 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Bridgett was banned less than 2 weꦆek ago, why doesn't she have 🦹any idea📖 what she did wrong?
Next, Emmett explained that starting in 2020, Twitch will begin releasing something called Transparency Reports. He claims these reports will have information about bans, reporting levels, and "what's happening in terms of trust and safety on Twitch." Given Twitch's firm policy of not discussing individual streamer moderation, it's difficult to imagine what kind of relevant info will be in these reports. Transparency have been an unfulfilled promise ever since the TOS were firꩲst updated: let's not forget this message from February 2018.
If you aren't getting the sense that Emmett is blowing so much smoke up our coll🍸ective behinds, waཧit until you hear him talk about forming a safety advisory board made up of industry experts, people who know about or are experts on bullying and harassment online, people who are experts on fighting bigotry and creating safe, non-toxic communities, and members of the community to advise them on how to update the community guidelines.
So when will this advisory board of "industry professionals" and "bullying experts" be brought in to make sure people aren't banned for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:fake pointless reasons while ꦍothers see൩mingly never get banned no matter what they do?
"This is going to be a perpetual effort for us. This is going to be🎃 something we're working on over the next year and the year ༺after that."
Later during the Q&A, Emmett addresses a question specifically asking about the inconsistency with which punishments are handed out and this is where things shift from empty promises to downri𝐆ght iꦿnsulting.
Emmett explains that most decisions get made by one of Twitch's full time "trained and trusted" operations team members. He explains they make the call based on the community guide lines and that "their whole job is doing that well." Occasionally, when new scenarios or ambiguous situations present themselves the issue will get escalated to senior members. These team members are moderating day in and day out, they know the precedeﷺnt for situations and, as Emmett explains "coming in as an outsider, it's kind of hard to know that."
That's not unreasonable, there are nuances and specifics to TOS transgressions that we as the community may not be privy too and it isn't too much of a stretch to think these professional moderators have a more complete picture than the average viewer. But what about when streamers are erroneously b꧙anned 🌺and sent hateful messages by the mods? What 💫about when ? The system is deeply flawed, not to even mention the pattern of sexism and favoritism, but Emmett would like us to believe𓆉 we just aren't seeing the whole story.
Emmett goes on to defend the decisions made by Twitch moderators by explaining that context, intent, and disciplinary history are all 🐽factors in how streamers are punished for breaking the rules.
"If someone walks up to you on the street and shoves you, that's one thing. If someone walks down the street and they trip and they push you, it might look to an outsider looking at a video of that action🐼 that it looks the same. But it's not the same, your intent matters."
Hey Emmett, no shit.
So much was said in an attempt to address the controversy without saying anything at all. Twitch is never going to address Alinity or Bridgett or 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Gabepeixe or 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:CinCinBear or Fareeha or 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:StephenIRL or ANY of the streamers that are punished unfairly and inconsist🐟ently every single week on Twitch. "We're human and we make mistakes" isn't good enough. The advisory board of bully experts you're supposedly putting together isn't good enough. Transparency isn't a quarterly report about how many bans you did. Alinity yelled at her cat and yeeted it off her desk and Twitch did nothing.
We need real transparency, we need to address the perceived culture of sexism and favoritism at Twitch, and we DON'T nee𒉰d to be told the difference between punching someone in the face and tripping into them.
I think Ninja said it best in this tweet: