She says she was given no warning about the sudden removal of her income (Twitch)
Hot tub streamer Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa has had ads indefinitely suspended from her Twitch stream without notification for being “not advertiser friendly”.
Siragusa is one of the most popular streamers on the platform, part of the “hot tub meta” where streamers stream in swimwear from a hot tub.
This isn’t against Twitch terms of service, though it does push the boundaries of allowed content.
However Twitch’s suspension of advertising on Siragusa’s channel, without warning, has spooked other streamers – many of whom are calling it unfair.
“This is an ALARMING precedent and serves as a stark warning that although content may not ostensibly break community guidelines or Terms of service, Twitch has complete discretion to target individual channels & partially or wholly demonetized them for content that is deemed “not advertiser friendly”, something that there is no communicated guideline for,” said Siragusa on Twitter.
This is an ALARMING precedent and serves as a stark warning that although content may not ostensibly break community guidelines or Terms of service, Twitch has complete discretion to target individual channels & partially or wholly demonetized them for
— Amouranth (@Amouranth) May 18, 2021
Although Twitch’s terms of service do allow for swimwear to be worn in an appropriate context, this is the first time they’ve demonetised a hot tub stream in this way.
In a stream the following day, Siragusa claimed that her ad revenue could run as high as $40,000 and exceeds income from donations, so its suspension by Twitch is a significant loss.
She has “diversified” her income though so isn’t solely reliant on Twitch. Money raised she hopes to put towards an animal sanctuary.
And while she foresaw this turn of events by Twitch, her concern is for other streamers who may be more reliant on Twitch for income. This doesn’t just affect hot tub streamers but potentially streamers of other content too.
“It’s the stealth move that’s concerning for people,” she said.
In a statement to Kotaku she explained the situation further.
“I asked my [Twitch] partner manager why my ads were showing ‘0′ after May 7th, and she initially expressed surprise as well and even introduced me to upcoming ads products that were rolling out,” she said.
“After inquiring internally, it seems she came back with a prepared statement. They made clear that ads were off the table in the short term. They vaguely alluded that not all content allowed under [terms of service] is appropriate for all advertisers.”
She believes this marks “a shift in how [Twitch] approach certain content in that they decided to demonetize it versus just changing the ToS”.
This may, in her view, result in more lenient terms of service in future.
Recently Black streamer ExoHydraX was banned for twerking on a hot tub stream, for which she accused Twitch of racism.
The “hot tub meta” remains the most contentious issue on Twitch at present.
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