Twitch CEO issues personal apology after branded content guidelines misstep: “We messed up”

The CEO of Twitch, Dan Clancy, has personally apologized for the controversy surrounding the recent shortlived Twitch branded content guidelines, with the Twitch boss acknowledging that the company “messed up” in regards to their proposed restrictions.

On June 6, 2023, Twitch revealed new branded content guidelines that were set up to help the platform control how streamers advertise sponsorships. This change was met with immediate backlash given that it was likely to severely impact charity and esports streams in addition to still having far-reaching implications for every individual streamer too.

Asmongold called for a boycott while his org OTK Network threatened to leave the platform altogether. Twitch issued an apology just hours later but has now removed the guidelines from the website entirely. 

Other content creators have also thrown in their two cents about the situation, with the likes of Ludwig also responding to the situation. All the backlash led to Twitch backflipping and discarding the changes altogether just the next day.

Now, the CEO of Twitch himself, Dan Clancy, has personally apologized for the situation during his most recent livestream on the platform. During the stream, the CEO quickly addressed the situation early on.

Twitch CEO apologizes for recent branded content guidelines

“Let me just go straight to the point. For those who don’t know, we recently released this branded content policy. I won’t go through all the details.”

Clancy then went on to apologize for the guideline mishap, took ownership of the situation, and acknowledged that Twitch was at fault.

“We got a lot of negative pushback and the bottom line is we messed up. It’s on us and I apologize for that.”

While the company was quick to rectify the issues, Twitch users as well as the community at large are still concerned about the overall mindset of the streaming platform in regards to supporting its content creators.

Want a full breakdown of the recent Twitch controversy? Check out our full deep dive, Twitch branded content guidelines spark controversy explained.