Twitch to update to a more strict username policy with further restrictions on the horizon

Twitch announced today that effective March 1, 2022, all usernames on the site will be held under new scrutiny.

The news comes only a few days after streamer Doaenel was banned indefinitely from the site for his username., However, he claimed he had nothing in his username that violated the guidelines posted:

Twitch announced the upcoming change in policy through a tweet posted today, providing a link to their new revised guidelines for usernames:

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Twitch announces that accounts with inappropriate usernames could be banned from their site

In their revised guidelines, they give their primary reason for their new, stricter approach to usernames.

"In order to ensure that our community is safe and inclusive, inappropriate account names that violate our Community Guidelines are prohibited. We also recognize that an account’s username has more impact across our services than many other forms of content because they are persistent, cross-functional, and, in most cases, much more visible. Because of this, we have additional, higher standards for usernames based on reducing harm across our services."

In addition to this, they detail that certain usernames could be banned indefinitely from their site.

"Indefinite suspensions are issued for usernames and display names that constitute clear violations of our standard Community Guidelines, or that are typically representative of malicious and bad-faith behavior."

They explain their definition of "bad-faith behavior" as being hateful slurs, references to terrorism, and names that could be deemed sexually explicit. However, for names that are not as severe, they are implimenting a "username reset," where a user is forced to change their display name before they can continue using the site.

"Username and display name resets force you to change your name but do not result in your account being suspended. If your username is reset through an enforcement action, you will receive an email notification asking you to choose a new username and/or display name. Until you follow these steps and rename your account, you will be unable to access your account on Twitch. Once you have renamed your account, you will be able to use Twitch as normal, and your account history (aside from the offending username) will be preserved."

These new updates to the username policies could be an annoyance for many users on the site, but it may end up being a decision that is copied by other sites as well to maintain a safer brand image.