Twitch’s new guidelines could have a real economic impact on Vtubers

Vtubers might appear on the screen as digital avatars, but now these streamers are bumping up against the same rules real-life ones do. Earlier this month, Twitch added “Enforcement Notes” to its terms of service that say the anime characters must abide by the platform’s clothing and dress guidelines — and it’s causing a lot of issues for some Vtubers.

“The attire policy applies to VTubers, in the same way it applies to other streamers,” Twitch’s community guidelines now state. The guidelines say that genitalia, buttocks, hips, “female-presented nipples,” and underbust “must be covered at all times on general streams.” Twitch also explicitly points out that, out of these rules, hip coverage is often forgotten and that Vtubers must make sure their models have this area covered.

Some Vtubers immediately protested the change and claimed Twitch enforces stricter moderation on the virtual characters. Unlike with real-life creators, who can just go and put on a different outfit, changing the look of a Vtuber involves a lot more work. The character models can range in complexity, but they require original art, animations, and a rigger to make sure a streamer can puppet the avatar correctly.

“If you want to permanently change your design, you HAVE to go back to your original artist/rigger since most of them don’t allow edits to their work,” a Vtuber who goes by LithiaVeyTuber told Polygon via email. “And many of these artists/riggers have high prices, and wait times that could be as long as several months. As a result, you end up spending so much extra time and money for what feels like a ridiculous rule.”

LithiaVeyTuber, a Vtuber and artist who makes character models for Vtubers, responded to the change by jokingly creating a “Vtuber chastity belt” so that streamers with exposed hips can remain within Twitch’s guidelines. The chunky metal belt is in a 2D art style and can be layered over a character model.

“I wanted to poke fun at Twitch a bit and give Vtubers something to laugh at, so I thought a chastity belt would be both funny and potentially useful,” she told Polygon.

While this giant metal Band-Aid might allow someone to keep streaming in the short term, it’s a temporary solution while Vtubers get new models made.

Twitch extending its clothing rules to Vtubers is just another knot in an ever-growing and complicated web of guidelines that Twitch has around moderating sexual content on the platform. Real-life streamers have flirted with Twitch’s guidelines by starting trends like the “hot tub meta” or hosting ASMR yoga streams. Vtubers can and do make NSFW content outside of Twitch, but an exposed hip doesn’t mean a Vtuber is trying to make explicit content — it can just be part of the design of a character.

On top of that, Twitch also has rules around streaming sexual content in video games. According to Twitch’s guidelines, the platform prohibits any content that depicts “real or fictional nudity.” But the specific rules around attire “apply to Vtuber models but not video game characters including those uploaded into games such as VRChat.” In other words, sexualized characters from a game like Zenless Zone Zero, for example, might not be moderated in the same way a Vtuber would.

“Going forward, I’m making sure that whatever designs I make or draw for Vtubers is safe for streaming,” LithiaVeyTuber said. “The only annoying thing is it’s hard to predict what else Twitch might ban in the future, especially the hips thing feels like it came out of left field.”

Polygon reached out to Twitch for a statement and will update this article if we hear back.