Community Guidelines
These are the community guidelines that Twitch users are asked to follow in order to promote a positive experience for all. Last modified on 02/28/2017Notice an error or have feedback for this article? Let us know!
At Twitch, our mission is to provide the best social video platform created by our growing community where creators and communities can interact safely. To achieve this goal, we ask that all users participate in such a way that promotes a friendly, positive experience for our global community.
To protect the integrity of our community, as the provider of the service, we at Twitch reserve the right to suspend any account at any time for any conduct that we determine to be inappropriate or harmful. You are free to appeal your suspension, but we are not required to provide a reason for our decision.
For minor first and second suspensions, your access to the site will be restricted for 24 hours, but there is no fixed time for the length of subsequent suspensions or suspensions for severe violations. We will consider appeals of indefinite suspensions based on our review of your conduct, account standing, and any other information we have. Our Customer Support and Moderation teams review all requests for reinstatement, and we process these along with all other support requests.
In addition to our Terms of Service, we provide the following guidelines for all user conduct and content on our services. These guidelines fall under a common sense philosophy and apply to all video content, audio content, messages, channel content, communities, metadata, usernames, and any other activity on our services. Violating our community guidelines may lead to the suspension of your account and access to our services, as well as the removal of any associated content. This is considered a living document that we regularly update based on the evolution of the Twitch community and service.
Additional guidelines or specific exceptions may be applicable for certain services or properties under the Twitch Service. At present, please refer to this page for such details: Curse Website Links and Resources
Table of Contents:
Breaking the Law
You must respect all applicable local, national, and international laws while using our services. Any content or activity featuring, encouraging, or soliciting illegal activity is prohibited.
Suspension Evasion
All suspensions are binding until expiration or removal upon appeal. Any attempt to circumvent a site-wide, community, or chat suspension by using other accounts, identities, personalities, or presence on another user's account will also result in suspension. Suspension evasion will not only increase the length of suspension, but may lead to an indefinite suspension.
Self-Destructive Behavior
Any activity that may endanger your life or lead to your physical harm is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to: suicide threats, intentional physical trauma, use of illegal drugs, and drinking excessively.
Targeted Harassment, Threats, and Violence Against Others
Harassment, defamation, intimidation, raiding with malicious intent, or stalking of other persons or users, including Twitch Staff, Admins, or Global Moderators, is strictly prohibited.
The following are considered zero-tolerance harassment violations, and all accounts associated with such activity will receive an immediate indefinite suspension:
Unauthorized Sharing of Private Information
Do not invade the privacy of others. It is prohibited to share content that may reveal private personal information about individuals, or their private residence, without permission. This includes but is not limited to:
Hate Speech and Other Harassment
Any content or activity that facilitates, promotes, or encourages discrimination, harassment, or violence based on race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, or nationality is prohibited.
Impersonation
Content or activity meant to impersonate an individual or organization is prohibited. Any attempts to misrepresent yourself as a member of Twitch Staff, Admins, or Global Moderators is a zero-tolerance violation and will result in immediate indefinite suspension.
Spam, Scams, and Other Malicious Conduct
Any content or activity that disrupts, interrupts, harms, or otherwise violates the integrity of Twitch services or another user's experience or devices is prohibited. Such activity includes:
Pornography and Other Sexually Explicit Conduct
Any content or activity involving pornography, sexual intercourse, or adult services is prohibited. Conduct involving exploitation of minors will be reported to authorities via the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Inappropriate Broadcaster Behavior and Attire
Nudity and conduct involving overtly sexual behavior and/or attire are prohibited.
Extreme Violence, Gore, and Other Obscene Conduct
Content that exclusively focuses on extreme or gratuitous gore and violence is prohibited.
Unauthorized Content Sharing & Other Copyright Violations
Uploading any content that you do not own, do not have the rights to, or are otherwise not authorized to use, violates our Terms of Service and may make your account liable to DMCA takedowns by third-party rights holders. We do not tolerate, for example: rebroadcasting other Twitch broadcasters’ content, playing pirated games, showing third-party movies and television shows, rebroadcasting a sports match, playing on unauthorized private servers, or uploading content from other sites without permission of the copyright owner.
Categorize your Content Appropriately
You are required to categorize your content appropriately. If there are multiple appropriate games or communities, you are welcome to choose whichever you feel is most appropriate. For example, if you are creating game-specific art, you are free to use the associated game directory or the Creative directory, along with an appropriate community. If there is not an appropriate category for your content, please set your game to Not Playing and/or do not set a community instead of using an inappropriate option for either.
Respect Intellectual Property Rights
When broadcasting on Twitch, you should create content that is original or you can share content that you are authorized to broadcast. Content that involves replicas, derivative creations, or performances of others' copyrighted content may violate another’s intellectual property and be subject to a takedown by a rights holder. We encourage creators to assess their content for adherence to applicable copyright laws, including fair use, and to secure all appropriate rights if needed, before sharing the content on Twitch. Also, keep in mind Twitch applies a repeat infringer policy; multiple copyright strikes on your account will lead to a permanent suspension of your account.
As this policy applies to music and other performance arts on Twitch, please note the following:
Cheating in Online Games
Any activity, such as cheating, hacking, botting, or tampering, that gives the account owner an unfair advantage in an online multiplayer game, is prohibited. This also includes exploiting another broadcaster’s live broadcast in order to harass them in-game, such as stream sniping.
Sexually Explicit, Adults-Only, and Other Prohibited Games
Nudity, pornography, sex, or sexual violence can not be a core focus or feature of the game in question, and gameplay with modded nudity is entirely prohibited. Occurrences of in-game nudity are permitted, so long as you do not make them a primary focus of your content and only spend as much time as needed in the area to progress the game's story. Games rated Adults Only (AO) by the ESRB are not permitted in content on Twitch.
For a complete list of games that are explicitly prohibited, please refer to our list of Prohibited Games.
Closed Alphas/Betas and Pre-Release Games
We ask that you respect all publisher/developer-enforced release dates, embargoes, and NDAs by waiting to broadcast these games until everyone else gets to. Unless given prior approval, your channel may be subject to DMCA takedown by a rights holder. Rights holders should report violations in accordance with our DMCA Guidelines. We ask that users refrain from reporting possible violations via the user report tool.
To protect the integrity of our community, as the provider of the service, we at Twitch reserve the right to suspend any account at any time for any conduct that we determine to be inappropriate or harmful. You are free to appeal your suspension, but we are not required to provide a reason for our decision.
For minor first and second suspensions, your access to the site will be restricted for 24 hours, but there is no fixed time for the length of subsequent suspensions or suspensions for severe violations. We will consider appeals of indefinite suspensions based on our review of your conduct, account standing, and any other information we have. Our Customer Support and Moderation teams review all requests for reinstatement, and we process these along with all other support requests.
In addition to our Terms of Service, we provide the following guidelines for all user conduct and content on our services. These guidelines fall under a common sense philosophy and apply to all video content, audio content, messages, channel content, communities, metadata, usernames, and any other activity on our services. Violating our community guidelines may lead to the suspension of your account and access to our services, as well as the removal of any associated content. This is considered a living document that we regularly update based on the evolution of the Twitch community and service.
Additional guidelines or specific exceptions may be applicable for certain services or properties under the Twitch Service. At present, please refer to this page for such details: Curse Website Links and Resources
Table of Contents:
Breaking the Law
You must respect all applicable local, national, and international laws while using our services. Any content or activity featuring, encouraging, or soliciting illegal activity is prohibited.
Suspension Evasion
All suspensions are binding until expiration or removal upon appeal. Any attempt to circumvent a site-wide, community, or chat suspension by using other accounts, identities, personalities, or presence on another user's account will also result in suspension. Suspension evasion will not only increase the length of suspension, but may lead to an indefinite suspension.
Self-Destructive Behavior
Any activity that may endanger your life or lead to your physical harm is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to: suicide threats, intentional physical trauma, use of illegal drugs, and drinking excessively.
Targeted Harassment, Threats, and Violence Against Others
Harassment, defamation, intimidation, raiding with malicious intent, or stalking of other persons or users, including Twitch Staff, Admins, or Global Moderators, is strictly prohibited.
The following are considered zero-tolerance harassment violations, and all accounts associated with such activity will receive an immediate indefinite suspension:
- Attempting or threatening to harm or kill another person
- Attempting or threatening to DDOS or SWAT another person
- Brandishing lethal or harmful weapons, such as guns, knives, or explosives
Unauthorized Sharing of Private Information
Do not invade the privacy of others. It is prohibited to share content that may reveal private personal information about individuals, or their private residence, without permission. This includes but is not limited to:
- Sharing personally identifiable information (such as real name, location, or ID)
- Sharing restricted or protected social profiles or any information from those profiles
- Broadcasting content obtained from filming or streaming in a manner that invades another’s privacy and/or takes place on private property, without permission
Hate Speech and Other Harassment
Any content or activity that facilitates, promotes, or encourages discrimination, harassment, or violence based on race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, or nationality is prohibited.
Impersonation
Content or activity meant to impersonate an individual or organization is prohibited. Any attempts to misrepresent yourself as a member of Twitch Staff, Admins, or Global Moderators is a zero-tolerance violation and will result in immediate indefinite suspension.
Spam, Scams, and Other Malicious Conduct
Any content or activity that disrupts, interrupts, harms, or otherwise violates the integrity of Twitch services or another user's experience or devices is prohibited. Such activity includes:
- Posting large amounts of repetitive, unwanted messages or user reports
- Distributing unauthorized advertisements
- Phishing
- Defrauding others
- Spreading malware or viruses
- Misinformation (such as feigning distress, posting misleading metadata, or intentional channel miscategorization)
- Tampering (such as artificially inflating follow or live viewer stats)
- Selling or sharing user accounts
- Reselling Twitch services or features (such as channel moderation status)
Pornography and Other Sexually Explicit Conduct
Any content or activity involving pornography, sexual intercourse, or adult services is prohibited. Conduct involving exploitation of minors will be reported to authorities via the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Inappropriate Broadcaster Behavior and Attire
Nudity and conduct involving overtly sexual behavior and/or attire are prohibited.
Extreme Violence, Gore, and Other Obscene Conduct
Content that exclusively focuses on extreme or gratuitous gore and violence is prohibited.
Unauthorized Content Sharing & Other Copyright Violations
Uploading any content that you do not own, do not have the rights to, or are otherwise not authorized to use, violates our Terms of Service and may make your account liable to DMCA takedowns by third-party rights holders. We do not tolerate, for example: rebroadcasting other Twitch broadcasters’ content, playing pirated games, showing third-party movies and television shows, rebroadcasting a sports match, playing on unauthorized private servers, or uploading content from other sites without permission of the copyright owner.
Categorize your Content Appropriately
You are required to categorize your content appropriately. If there are multiple appropriate games or communities, you are welcome to choose whichever you feel is most appropriate. For example, if you are creating game-specific art, you are free to use the associated game directory or the Creative directory, along with an appropriate community. If there is not an appropriate category for your content, please set your game to Not Playing and/or do not set a community instead of using an inappropriate option for either.
Respect Intellectual Property Rights
When broadcasting on Twitch, you should create content that is original or you can share content that you are authorized to broadcast. Content that involves replicas, derivative creations, or performances of others' copyrighted content may violate another’s intellectual property and be subject to a takedown by a rights holder. We encourage creators to assess their content for adherence to applicable copyright laws, including fair use, and to secure all appropriate rights if needed, before sharing the content on Twitch. Also, keep in mind Twitch applies a repeat infringer policy; multiple copyright strikes on your account will lead to a permanent suspension of your account.
As this policy applies to music and other performance arts on Twitch, please note the following:
- Performance Arts: Performances of pre-existing works require that you have all appropriate rights to share the content and/or your own performance of that work.
- Live Music Performance & Creation: Music content should focus on live creation and performance of original music. You may also stream a live performance of a “cover” song (i.e., a song written by someone else) so long as it does not incorporate recorded musical or other audio elements created or owned by someone else (e.g., the instrumental track of someone else’s recording).
- Recorded Music: Radio-style broadcasts featuring recorded music are reserved only for approved music labels. Live music performances such as karaoke, covering someone else’s music, and lip-syncing/impersonation cannot be the focus of your music content.
Cheating in Online Games
Any activity, such as cheating, hacking, botting, or tampering, that gives the account owner an unfair advantage in an online multiplayer game, is prohibited. This also includes exploiting another broadcaster’s live broadcast in order to harass them in-game, such as stream sniping.
Sexually Explicit, Adults-Only, and Other Prohibited Games
Nudity, pornography, sex, or sexual violence can not be a core focus or feature of the game in question, and gameplay with modded nudity is entirely prohibited. Occurrences of in-game nudity are permitted, so long as you do not make them a primary focus of your content and only spend as much time as needed in the area to progress the game's story. Games rated Adults Only (AO) by the ESRB are not permitted in content on Twitch.
For a complete list of games that are explicitly prohibited, please refer to our list of Prohibited Games.
Closed Alphas/Betas and Pre-Release Games
We ask that you respect all publisher/developer-enforced release dates, embargoes, and NDAs by waiting to broadcast these games until everyone else gets to. Unless given prior approval, your channel may be subject to DMCA takedown by a rights holder. Rights holders should report violations in accordance with our DMCA Guidelines. We ask that users refrain from reporting possible violations via the user report tool.