DJWheat slams Twitch executives after guidelines update sparks backlash

Twitch’s former Director of Creative Development, DJWheat, slammed the platform’s executives following mass backlash around its (now-removed) branded content guidelines.

Twitch caught serious flak earlier this week after unveiling its new guidelines for branded content, which heavily restricted what kinds of advertisements would be allowed on its platform.

These proposed restrictions prohibited any “burned-in” audio, video, and display ads, and limited on-screen logos to just 3% of streamers’ screen size.

These scheduled changes sparked a huge amount of backlash against the site, which ultimately removed the new rules just a day later. Although some users pointed to similar language in the site’s TOS, executives assured users that this would also be removed eventually.

Yesterday, we released new Branded Content Guidelines that impacted your ability to work with sponsors to increase your income from streaming. These guidelines are bad for you and bad for Twitch, and we are removing them immediately.

— Twitch (@Twitch) June 7, 2023

Of course, those aren’t the only issues that have Twitch streamers riled up lately. The site has also banned all users from multi-streaming on “Twitch-like” platforms and is even charging partners $25 to end their contracts.

These incidents have left a sour taste in many streamers’ mouths — especially as rival platforms like Kick and YouTube continue to poach top broadcasters from Twitch with high-paying deals and exclusive contracts.

DJWheat slams Twitch executives after branded content backlash

Now, Twitch’s former Head of Creative Development has spoken out about the drama… and he didn’t mince words about his feelings on the subject.

“There are people at Twitch that are 100% saying, ‘Listen, if you do this, people are gonna be f*ckin’ mad. And then you know what? I’m gonna end up dealing with a lot of the fallout and a lot of the bullshit that’s gonna come with it,'” he explained during a June 9 broadcast.

“And they’re like, ‘Yeah, whatever, but I make more money than you! And this is my title, so I’m gonna make the decision.’ And then, guess what? The community blows up, the people that knew they were gonna get punished for it — that really had no ability to make the change anyway — get punished for it, and the person who made the actual decision gets to go home, eat dinner, f*ckin’ enjoy time with their family, and doesn’t even give two fucks about what’s happening on the Twitterverse.”

It seems as though Twitch’s ad decisions didn’t sit well with the former Twitch Director — but he isn’t the only person affiliated with the company to speak on its controversial decision.

In fact, Twitch’s CEO, Dan Clancy, published an open apology to users over the ordeal, admitting that the company “messed up” with their now-defunct guidelines.

Although Twitch has thrown those proposed rules in the garbage bin, many creators are still looking to rival platforms as the streaming wars rage on.