Ninja has slammed Twitch for quietly changing their terms of service yesterday to include a new section that prevents streamers from simulcasting on rival platforms without written permission from Twitch, which he says has impacted his plans.
“I’m not allowed to multicast anymore to YouTube and Facebook while I’m streaming on Twitch at the same time even though I’m not a partner,” the veteran streamer said during a YouTube broadcast late on June 7. “I’m not a partner, I’m not an affiliate, but the rules apply to me as well. Which is so tone-deaf. It’s crazy, man.”
The section in question states when streamers are live on Twitch, they’re not allowed to simultaneously broadcast on other “Twitch-like” services, which it describes as a “network, platform, or service that supports streaming of user-generated content.”
As Ninja said, this means he can no longer stream on Facebook and YouTube at the same time he’s streaming on Twitch, which he has been doing on and off since returning from a lengthy streaming hiatus in Sep. 2022.
Mobile-first services that support live streaming like Instagram and TikTok are an exception, but that wasn’t enough to stop him from speaking out today.
The change was added around the same time Twitch posted their new branded content guidelines, although those weren’t going into effect until next month. The Amazon-owned platform backflipped on the decision shortly after a number of stars like Asmongold and MoistCr1TiKaL threatened to move elsewhere due to the unfair limitations.
Twitch has not done the same for the simulcast terms of service change. Most of the outrage has been directed toward the branded content guidelines, which affected more streamers, so there hasn’t been as much of a demand.
It seems Ninja is hoping that changes. Otherwise, he may ditch it for good.
