Alinity Weighs In On Amouranth And Indiefoxx Bans
Debate surrounding sexually suggestive Twitch content, and subsequent bans for that content, has continued with controversial streamer Alinity weighing in on the topic. After Indiefoxx and Amouranth were banned for their steamy ASMR streams, other streamers began commenting on the topic. Several creators have argued that Twitch needs better labeling and more consistent guidelines in order to either prevent sexual content from appearing in users' main feeds or to at least make the platform's stance on adult content more clear. Now, Alinity has spoken out about the topic, which she feels strongly about.
Alinity tweeted her thoughts on the ASMR debacle, saying, "The punishment on Twitch for sexual behavior is too little to deter streamers from pushing the line between their content and sexual behavior." Alinity believes that users who include sexually suggestive content in their streams should be punished for violating Twitch policy — and she says that as someone who has violated Twitch policy in the past.
Alinity referenced her own unintentional adult content, when she exposed herself on stream and gave herself a ban. Even though Twitch doled out an official suspension for Alinity, she thought her punishment should be longer than the 24 hour sentence she received.
Alinity continued explaining her stance on recent bans, saying, "As someone that had an ACCIDENTAL violation for sexual content, I can tell you that the amount of advertising you get from said suspension highly outweighs the lack of income from a 3 day ban. It's just a nice vacation."
Alinity says Twitch needs firmer rules
The argument makes sense. Alinity explained that bans generate news, which in turn earns banned streamers more subscribers, and more money. In this way, bans and suspensions end up being a promotional tool instead of a punishment.
Alinity clarified her statements in a follow up tweet, explaining that she's not "in favor or against that content being on the site." Instead, she said that Twitch needs to decide how it wants to handle sexually suggestive content, then implement those rules firmly and without exceptions. Alinity pointed out that three DMCA violations will earn streamers a permanent ban, while bans for sexually suggestive content seemingly don't hold the same weight. Twitch has truly mastered the DMCA ban, which it performs quickly and efficiently, sometimes even striking its own music in the process.
Some commenters pointed out that Twitch might not want to ban streamers like Indiefoxx and Amouranth because they attract money to the site. However, with all of the added attention (not all of it positive), Twitch might eventually feel forced to release a statement on the issue, giving fans a clearer image of how the company plans to handle sexual content. As of now, Twitch does not often comment directly on suspensions. A notable exception would be when those bans lead to the creation of new labels, like the infamous hot tub category.