Twitch cracks down on ‘butt streamers’ who were streaming on their private parts

The trend of people streaming on their butts may be forced to end thanks to new community guidelines from Twitch. But regular viewers seem unconvinced anything will really change.

The concept of streaming on your bottom sounds nonsensical (it certainly did to me), but people were using green screens so their livestreams could appear on their butts. Basically, you were watching someone point a camera at their ass, which would display the streamer playing games like Fortnite. The trend quickly spread to streamers, particularly VTubers, using the same strategy but for their thighs or breasts, making it 2024’s equivalent of the hot tub streaming meta.

Twitch soon caught on to the trend. As such, starting Friday, March 29, new rules will go into effect that prevent “content that focuses on intimate body parts for a prolonged period of time,” according to a post on Twitch’s X (formerly Twitter) account.

Judging by the initial reactions to this, plenty of regular Twitch viewers see this as a band-aid to a wider issue. On the LivestreamFail subreddit, Atmozfear succinctly pointed out that those who partook in the butt-streaming trend will “figure out something new anyway” and find a workaround. Users like Zhukov-74 also think the new guidelines are “definitely going to be exploited” given their vagueness.

Twitch only says body parts can’t be exposed for a “prolonged period of time,” but how will it determine how long that is? Is it okay if a streamer shows their bare bottom for just a few seconds? As sub2pewdiepieONyt pointed out, streamers will likely stress test these new guidelines to see how much exposure they can get away with: “Streamers will determine the definition of ‘prolonged’ and ‘intimate’ through a series of 24 hour bans.”

The responses on X aren’t much better, with user Omni saying streamers are “working on an new meta that will force you guys to move the goal post yet again.” AnEternalEnigma recommended that Twitch outright ban the very streamers who keep jumping on these NSFW trends and forcing guideline changes. MadamSavvy, meanwhile, suggested Twitch directly contact the usual suspects and demand they cut it out. Or make Twitch an 18+ website and just prevent minors from accessing it if such NSFW content is going to continue to spread.