Twitch CEO explains why moderation won’t change to compete with Kick

Twitch CEO Dan Clancy says the Amazon-owned platform has no plans to change its moderation policies despite streamers claiming that’s what drove them to Kick.

In the past few years, many streamers have left Twitch to join rival platforms such as Kick and YouTube.

Some have claimed Twitch’s moderation guidelines regarding gambling and sexual content are what drove them away, but Dan Clancy doesn’t believe that to be the case.

While Kick offers a much better revenue split than the competition with 95/5 and has looser policies in terms of what’s allowed, Clancy is convinced that those reasons aren’t the real reason creators jumped ship.

Twitch CEO doesn’t believe moderation made streamers leave

Speaking with Fast Company, Clancy noted that he doesn’t believe Kick’s looser moderation policies are what pushed creators to the platform.

“While they may have said that’s the reason, I think every single one of them were given a contract where they were making a lot more money than they would organically make,” he said.

Twitch

Streamers such as xQc and Amouranth signed monster contracts to bring their content to Kick, with the French Canadian’s being worth over $100M.

According to Clancy, Twitch’s moderation exists to keep the platform less “toxic” and explained that’s why they ultimately decided to ban gambling and have policies against “hate and harassment.”

The CEO was further asked about Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to loosen Meta’s moderation. In particular, he was asked about changes to Facebook and Instagram’s “hateful conduct” policies in which some once-bannable comments (like calling LGBT people “mentally ill”) are now allowed under free expression and how firm Twitch’s policies are in comparison.

“If you don’t like what somebody is saying, then don’t watch their channel. There are certain things that are off limits, but I don’t think that has changed,” Clancy said. “We have the same policies, and I think most people still would consider that saying those words is hateful.”

Meanwhile, Kick’s moderation has ramped up significantly since the site launched with troublemaking streamers such as Johnny Somali being permanently banned from the platform.