Twitch Revamps Its Suspension Policy With Clearer Rules and Penalty Changes

Twitch said Tuesday that it is overhauling its suspension policy, moving away from the platform’s previous all-or-nothing penalty structure. Up to now, a temporary suspension generally meant a user lost access to Twitch entirely, including the ability to chat, watch streams while logged in, and even view basic account information. With the new update, Twitch is introducing two separate suspension categories: streaming and chatting.

Twitch acknowledged that the previous system was easier to enforce. Still, it said the new model is designed to be more precise so that penalties more closely match the specific behaviour that led to enforcement.

Under the revamped approach, if a user violates Twitch’s Community Guidelines during a livestream, their account will be suspended from streaming. That means they will be blocked from going live, and chat on their own channel will be temporarily turned off. During a streaming suspension, however, the user will still be able to watch streams while logged in, participate in chat on other channels, and access their user dashboard. In addition, viewers will still be able to watch the suspended creator’s existing videos and clips.

Likewise, if a user violates Twitch’s Community Guidelines through chat behaviour, they will receive a chat suspension. This type of suspension prevents them from participating in chat across other channels, but they can still stream their own content or watch other creators. Twitch noted a key detail: users under a chat suspension can still chat within their own channel, but they will not be able to join chats on other streams.

“Higher severity violations present a greater risk to our community; they will receive both chatting and streaming suspensions simultaneously to prevent further harm,” Twitch said in a blog post. “And, as is the case today, those who commit the most serious violations will receive an indefinite suspension and lose all access to Twitch. There is no place for serious violations on Twitch.”

Twitch is not changing the duration of temporary suspensions. Both streaming and chatting suspensions will continue to range from 24 hours up to 30 days, depending on the circumstances.

The company also said that suspension durations will increase as users commit repeated violations, and that accumulating multiple temporary suspensions can still result in an indefinite suspension.

Twitch determines the severity of a violation by evaluating the harm it causes—or could cause. The platform defines harm as any behaviour that causes physical, emotional, social, or financial harm to a user or to Twitter.

Twitch added that it is developing additional suspension categories that will be introduced in future updates.