Ex-Twitch staff member finally explains controversial emote bans

A former staff member of Twitch’s safety team has finally explained the decision-making between some controversial emote bans.

Twitch bans are always a hot topic in the community and so are emotes when streamers reveal that their own unique features have been removed from the platform.

Over the years we’ve seen dozens of questionable emote bans. From mushrooms in hot tub tubs to dancing monkeys getting the boot, streamers have been wondering what was wrong to begin with.

In a recent thread on social media, Angel, a former Twitch staff member, chimed in on one particular emote ban featuring a chicken making an “L” sign and explained why it was removed from the site.

Former Twitch employee reveals why certain emotes get banned

According to Angel, emotes that could potentially be used “with a targeted negative sentiment” are not allowed on Twitch.

“Consider – a minority streamer is being harassed, they have every imaginable negative word on their block list…But raiders found a hack! Tons of channels with Loser emotes. This becomes impossible to moderate,” she explained.

Consider – a minority streamer is being harassed, they have every imaginable negative word on their block list…But raiders found a hack! Tons of channels with Loser emotes. This becomes impossible to moderate.

This is one of several (very real!) scenarios this policy prevents.

— Angel ✨ (@AngelRosePetals) March 30, 2023

“I know it seems improbable, but I promise these decisions aren’t made on a whim. There are millions of users & communities on Twitch that you’ll never see, and the possibilities for misuse are more than most realize,” she continued.

This line of thinking didn’t sit well with everyone, however. One user commented that anything could be twisted to have a negative connotation, but Angel had an answer for that.

“Sure, you can twist just about anything. But the question isn’t just ‘can it be misused?’ but rather a series of questions,” she said, listing off the possibilities for an emote to be misused and how often.

Sure, you can twist just about anything. But the question isn’t just “can it be misused?” but rather a series of questions – “how can people misuse it?” “how often will people misuse it?” ”have we seen people misuse something like this before?” – etc.

— Angel ✨ (@AngelRosePetals) March 31, 2023

Luckily, for those not wanting such strict moderation, there are a lot of alternatives to Twitch popping up. Kick, for instance, has emerged as more of a free speech platform where almost anything goes.

However, for users curious about Twitch’s decision-making when it comes to emotes, at least there are finally some explanations about why popular emotes are suddenly banned from the Amazon-owned site.