Twitch bans SoundCloud for alleged violation of nudity policy

Popular music streaming service SoundCloud has been banned from Twitch
Popular music streaming service SoundCloud has been banned from Twitch

SoundCloud has been banned on Twitch!

The popular music sharing website was recently issued a ban by Twitch, which of late has been handing out suspensions by the dozen. From prominent streamers to smaller content creators, the Amazon-owned streaming platform has been on the warpath of late, as it continues to issue bans for a plethora of reasons, with some even being completely unjustified.

SoundCloud recently partnered exclusively with Twitch, and barely a few months later, has now been slapped with its first ban:

While there was no concrete reason provided as to what led to the ban, according to esports insider Rod Slasher Breslau, SoundCloud has been banned due to sexually suggestive content and for violating Twitch's nudity policy:


The two-sided tale of Twitch policies

On the site's official Community Guidelines page, Twitch has a pretty detailed set of rules related to nudity and sexually suggestive content, which states:

"We restrict content that involves nudity or is sexual in nature, and are committed to ensuring that Twitch is not used for sexual exploitation or violence."
"To maintain the health of our community and promote content that is appropriate for a diverse audience, sexually suggestive content is prohibited on Twitch. Evaluations on the sexual suggestiveness of a behavior or activity are independent of user attire and are instead based on the overall surrounding framing and context.
"This policy also applies to embedded media, augmented reality, creative broadcasts, and channel content — such as banners, profile images, emotes, and panels — that are focused on provocative images or video."

While the idea behind implementing this rigid policy may have been for the greater good, several from the online community believe that Twitch seems to have misinterpreted its own guidelines, as the problem is far more deep-rooted than what meets the eye.

Apart from their nudity policy, Twitch also seems to have a very vague reprimanding system, as prominent streamers such as Dr Disrespect have been slapped with bans, without even being provided any concrete reason.

Recently, prominent streamer Forsen was suspended for saying something which sounded like a homophobic slur, when in reality it was not the case. There appears to be a conspicuous discrepancy in Twitch's system of handing out bans as their policy continues to remain under intense scrutiny from the online community.

Check out some of the reactions to SoundCloud's recent ban on Twitch: