• News

Twitch reverses highly unpopular ad & branding guidelines planned for July

Following major backlash from numerous content creators, Twitch has reversed a decision to implement strict new guidelines on ads and branding.

TJ Denzer

June 7, 2023 3:10 PM

Image via Twitch

2

Twitch found itself under fire this week from its community over the discovery of new guidelines for ads and branding that the company intended to roll out in July. After many creators and livestreamers threatened to leave the platform, Twitch has followed up by reversing the decision to launch said guidelines. It would seem the company is not even re-evaluating or reworking said guidelines so much as outright nixing them for the time being.

Twitch posted a response to the backlash on its ad and branding guidelines via its Twitter on June 7, 2023. The company apologized for the commotion it caused and announced the decision to remove the unpopular guidelines from its Branded Content Policy TOS immediately.

“These guidelines are bad for you and bad for Twitch, and we are removing them immediately,” Twitch wrote. “We want to work with our community to create the best experience on Twitch, and to do that we need to be clear about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. We appreciate your feedback and help in making this change.”

The previously planned brand and ad guidelines which drew ire from Twitch content creators and livestreamers were discovered earlier this week. Under the guidelines that were supposed to launch in early July 2023, Channels could not utilize user-created ads in their content. Furthermore, personal branding could only take up to 3 percent of the screen. It was later found that Twitch would also bar simulcast streaming on similar livestreaming platforms not just for partners and affiliates, but all creators, meaning even those who broke partnership with Twitch could be punished for livestreaming in multiple places under the new rules.

It appears the backlash was enough to change Twitch’s mind about ad and branding guidelines for now, but it will remain to be seen if the company doesn’t make an attempt at a revised version of these guidelines in the future. Stay tuned as we continue to follow this story for further updates.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.