Twitch creates new streaming category in response to ‘hot tub meta’

It appears that while Twitch is not outright banning the content colloquially known as the “hot tub meta,” it’s placing it in a new category on its site.

Twitch announced the creation of the “Pools, Hot Tubs, and Beaches” category today in reaction to the rise of attractive women wearing bikinis in their hot tubs overwhelming the “Just Chatting” section.

The contention of those against the “hot tub meta” is that the hot tub streamers’ normal beach attire circumvents Twitch rules about “nudity and attire” and “sexually suggestive content.”

Twitch addressed this in its statement. “Our intention with the Sexually Suggestive policy was to draw a line on content that is overtly or explicitly sexually suggestive, not to ban all content that could be viewed as sexually suggestive–but we acknowledge that our rules are not as clear as they could be,” Twitch said.

Twitch also said a blanket ban on content that could be perceived as suggestive would severely limit the number of games that could be theoretically streamed on the platform. In addition, Twitch said it will update the policies on sexually suggestive content “in the coming months.”

Twitch commented on the state of ads disappearing from creators’ channels, too. “On Twitch, brands get to decide where and when their ads appear,” Twitch said. “Today, they can target or avoid specific categories of content and flag channels that don’t meet their standards. This means that Twitch, in rare cases, will suspend advertising on a channel at the advertisers’ request.” Twitch also said it’s working with individual creators on their specific situations.

Twitch’s policies towards hot tub streaming became a major talking point earlier this week when popular streamer Amouranth lost ads on her channel. She alleges that Twitch didn’t reach out to her “in any way whatsoever.”

All you need to stream in the new category is appropriate swimwear as outlined in Twitch’s “Swim and Beaches” contextual exception to the current “nudity and attire” policy.

Twitch acknowledges that these changes aren’t going to make everyone happy and said it’s assessing more long-term solutions to improve its “brand targeting capabilities.”

Specifics about the “Pools, Hot Tubs, and Beaches” category can be found in Twitch’s help section.