Kick launches new categories to better moderate “problematic” situations
Kick.comKick has launched new ‘IRL’ and ‘Chat Roulette’ categories to help the platform improve moderation following a series of guidelines violations from streamers.
On June 22, Kick revealed the addition of two new streaming categories for the platform: IRL and Chat Roulette.
The platform said on Twitter/X that IRL was created due to the growth of that kind of content on Kick, and updated the company’s guidelines for the new category.
“While IRL streaming please understand that you may be subject to others taking matters into their own hands if they become overly annoyed with your behaviour. It’s best always to be respectful and civil,” it reads.
Kick listed a handful of specific guidelines for IRL streaming, including a focus on respecting the privacy of others, following local laws, and avoiding disruptions to others.
For the new Chat Roulette category, Kick moderators will maintain presence in every stream to monitor for “doxxing, hate-speech and for the protection of minors.”
“Streaming of minors or any individual a reasonable person would consider to be a minor through these chat roulette style platforms is strictly prohibited,” it reads. “If you unexpectedly encounter a person who appears to be a minor during use of these chat roulette style platforms then you must immediately skip through to the next engagement.”
Kick CEO Eddie Craven revealed these categories on stream as well, explaining that the two new categories will make it “so much easier” for the moderation team to keep an eye on “high risk” broadcasts.
“We’re going to make sure every person in the Chat Roulette and IRL category [has] an active moderator there ready to turn the stream off in case things get out of control,” he said. “It’s going to hopefully remove a lot of those problematic situations that sometimes just get left unchecked.”
“We say this internally, we don’t want to be Twitch 2.0,” Eddie said, adding that they don’t want to just ban streamers because it’s easy.
For reference, Twitch has gone as far as banning “all randomized video chat platforms” like Chat Roulette and the now defunct Omegle.
This new policy comes just after Kick streamers N3on and Jack Doherty were banned from the platform after they and their teams got into a fight while IRL streaming at a Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship in Florida.