New Twitch policy bans the word ‘Zionist’ amid antisemitism accusations

On November 15, 2024, Twitch pushed out an update to its Hateful Conduct policy, making specific changes around usage of the word ‘Zionist’ on its platform.

Twitch’s blog post clarifies that the world in isolation is not prohibited, but consequences will be enforced if the term is used in a hateful or harassing manner.

“Starting today, using the term ‘Zionist’ to attack or demean another individual or group of people on the basis of their background or religious belief is against our rules,” the post reads.

“Using the term to refer to the political movement, whether in a supportive or critical way, does not violate our Hateful Conduct policy,” it continues, maintaining that the site does not wish to “stifle conversation about or criticism of an institution or ideology, but to prevent coded hate directed at individuals and groups of people.”

This latest update follows accusations of antisemitism toward the platform after it was discovered that users based in Israel and Palestine were prevented from creating Twitch accounts.

The platform called the matter an “unacceptable miss” that it “deeply regrets” for “inadvertently” never re-enabling email verification in either region.

Twitch CEO Dan Clancy also made a statement regarding the discussion, saying that the company “stands firmly against hate and harassment of any form.”

“There is no place on Twitch for racism, hatred, or harassment of any kind, including antisemitism and Islamophobia,” he continued. “…Twitch is, and will always be, about belonging.

“Each day, people come together on our service to build communities around shared interests, and to express themselves authentically. For this to be possible, we work hard to ensure that our community is a safe place.”

Responses to Twitch’s latest Hateful Conduct update have been negative, with some users calling for the company to fire Clancy.

This update comes in the wake of several high-profile streamers claiming they’ve been demonetized on the platform due to including content tags representing their race and country of origin, sparking further backlash against the site.