In recent years, the majority of online platforms took serious action against deep fake content except for Twitch. But because of the recent Deepfake scandal on this live-streaming platform, they published a blog post titled “Addressing Explicit Deepfake Material” today that Synthetic non-consensual exploitative images (NCEI) will not be accepted.
Even a short appearance of those kinds of deepfake pictures “will be removed and will result in an enforcement,“ according to the corporation. Furthermore, promoting, producing, or disseminating deep fake porn on purpose is grounds for an instaban and “can result in an indefinite suspension on the first offense.”
Twitch Banned Deepfake Porns
Recently, there was a deep fake scandal on Twitch. The faces of well-known female Twitch streamers, including Pokimane, QTCinderella, and Maya Higa, were allegedly implemented onto the bodies of naked women on January 30 when Twitch streamer Brandon “Atrioc” Ewing left a browser window open on life. Atrioc acknowledged visiting a deep fake site out of “morbid curiosity” regarding the photographs in a tearful apologies stream. He admitted, “I just clicked a fucking link at 2 AM, and the morals didn’t catch up to me,” vowing never to act in such a way again.
Twitch didn’t immediately respond to a fact-check request, so it’s unclear if they took any regulatory action against Atrioc at the time, but the new policy makes it obvious that at least some action would be taken.
Even when Twitch unintentionally finds sexually explicit content in a broadcast, they do have a tendency to crack down on accounts that share sexual photos. According to streaming news website Win.gg, Atrioc was previously banned for displaying a flaccid penis on screen, while Pokimane famously received a warning (not a ban) after unintentionally launching PornHub in a browser tab. Yet Twitch’s previous stance on deepfakes was quite limited: it only acknowledged them in the context of “posting negative doctored or creative content to abuse or humiliate another individual.”
Twitch did previously restrict “broadcasting or uploading a video that incorporates depictions of genuine nudity” and threatened instabans for “sexual violence and exploitation,” though.
