In a blog post titled “Addressing explicit deepfake content”, twitch informed that synthetic images of non-consensual exploitation (NCEI) will not be tolerated. That is to say, that now, deepfake porn is prohibited and is a reason for urging.
The platform’s statement, cited in a report by The Vergepoints out that even a brief inadvertent glance at such images “will be removed” and if you intentionally promote, create or share fake pornography, that is grounds for an instaban: “May result in indefinite suspension on first offense”.
Twitch recently had a deepfake scandal on January 30, when the streamer Brandon “Atrioch” Ewing left a browser window open on the stream which reportedly it featured the faces of popular female Twitch streamers, including Pokimane, QTCinderella, and Maya Higa, “grafted onto the bodies of naked women”reported BuzzFeed.
The streamer, in a tearfully apologetic stream, admitted that he visited a fake site out of “morbid curiosity” about the images: “I just clicked a fucking link at 2 am and my spirits didn’t catch up with me. I promise not to do something like that again”.
The reaction of the content creators
It’s unclear if Twitch took any enforcement action against Atrioc at the time, but the new policy makes it clear that at least some action would be taken.
QTCinderella spoke on Twitter after the scandal: “I want to scream. Stop spreading it. Stop advertising it. Being seen “naked” against your will should not be part of this job”.
I want to scream.
Stop.
Everybody fucking stop. Stop spreading it. Stop advertising it. Stop.
Being seen “naked” against your will should NOT BE A PART OF THIS JOB.Thank you to all the male internet “journalists” reporting on this issue. fucking losers @HUN2R
— QTCinderella (@qtcinderella) January 30, 2023
Twitch tends to clamp down on accounts that share sexual images, even when they accidentally land on a live stream. Atrioch himself was previously noted for showing a flaccid penis on screen, according to the news site Win.gg.
However, Twitch previously banned “transmit or upload content that contains depictions of actual nudity” and threatened with instabans for “violence and sexual exploitation”.
QTCinderella vowed to sue the fake porn site Atrioc brought to the world’s attention, but has since told NBCNews who gave up: “Every lawyer I’ve talked to has essentially come to the conclusion that we don’t have a case, there’s no way to sue the guy”.