“I have learned to just roll with it in regards to the toxic side of Twitch popularity,” said Siragusa. “I’ve seen a lot of more conservative (in terms of attire or demeanor) female broadcasters get undue hate or sexual harassment regardless.”

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Siragusa, then, can’t help but see the entire premise of people’s visceral reaction to hot tub streams—that women are getting preferential treatment on Twitch—as flawed.

“I don’t think girls are on balance treated better than guy streamers with regards to moderation enforcement,” she said. “That is a very unpopular opinion, but I think a lot of the perceived asymmetry is caused by Twitch not publicizing the reason they are taking enforcement action against a streamer. Social media loves opining about topics when there is imperfect information.”

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Twitch’s lack of transparency has caused streamers and the company countless headaches over the years—even, (again) contrary to popular belief, in the case of hot tub streams. While one streamer, Imjasmine, recently got suspended for a pretty clear wardrobe malfunction while streaming from a hot tub, Indiefoxx received a suspension earlier this month not for streaming from a hot tub, but for “selling Twitch services or features,” a violation she could not figure out the origin of. She ended up deeming the suspension “excessive.”

So while many streamers and viewers want Twitch to treat symptoms of its transparency problem with even stricter rules, Siragusa thinks the real solution is authentic, consistent transparency on Twitch’s part.

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“Even if we hypothetically conceded that female streamers have more leniency, I always find it rather amusing that people argue so hard for Twitch to be more strict with regards to its [terms of service] rather than less,” she said. “If two people are perceived to break the same rule and one receives a ‘lesser sentence’ there is so much more buzz around making sure the person with the shorter suspension gets ‘banned longer.’ Twitch is already much more strict than, say, YouTube with regards to content moderation. I think that in cases where there seems to be ambiguity or inequity around ToS enforcement, it would be far more constructive if the community rallied behind the more forbearing enforcement action/ToS interpretation. But I guess that’s not how the internet works.”

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