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Small-Scale Question Sunday for November 19, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Does Twitch's extremely strict policy surrounding slurs, hate speech, not having banned users on panel shows, the permanent ban on destiny, the policing of offline and off platform behaviour, etc, make economic sense? I don't understand how it could, as it seemingly significantly pushes people to Youtube and especially more recently Kick as competitors, which is insane considering that Twitch initially basically had a monopoly on this.

I don't think it does, given it's substantially stricter than every other platform, including Youtube, Tiktok, pre-musk Twitter, and similar. I think it's a combination of - economic incentives mean management has some pressure to censor, and then the people they give the 'trust and safety' or w/e authority to are very progressive.

Does Twitch's extremely strict policy surrounding slurs, hate speech, not having banned users on panel shows, the permanent ban on destiny, the policing of offline and off platform behaviour, etc, make economic sense? I don't understand how it could, as it seemingly significantly pushes people to Youtube and especially more recently Kick as competitors, which is insane considering that Twitch initially basically had a monopoly on this.

Sounds like a textbook principal-agent problem to me.

... depends on what you're asking. We don't have data, and such data's probably impossible to get, but there's some stuff you can reasonably guess.

Does the extent of the current policy put off more advertisers or watchers or creators than a milder one would? Probably! Does a content policy doing some of these rules probably make them more advertisers/watch/creators than having absolutely zero would? Also probably, given that above any natural economic motions it'd attract the same sort of 'oversight' that drove Media Matters to fuck with Twitter recently.

Does any of that matter, when we already know every payment processor outside of Russia will drop them like a sack of potatoes?