UPDATE DEC 15, 2023: Twitch has now reversed its controversial decision to allow “artistic depictions of nudity" on the site, blaming AI for all this shambles.

Twitch CEO Daniel Clancy gave the following statement to explain the reversal of the creative nudity changes:

A lot of what has been generated caused concern in the community. These are our concerns. After much thought, we realised that this adjustment went too far. Digital images of nudity present us with a special kind of problem because literal-minded AI can be used to create realistic photos, and digital art is difficult to distinguish from photography.

Today, the adjustments concerning artistic nudity are being unwound. In the future, no representations of actual or fictitious nudity will be allowed on Twitch Period. This limit does not apply to mature-rated games. Emote Guidelines Provides emote-specific guidelines for nudity and sexual material. We are not going to change the revised Sexual Content Policy any further.

This change is reflected in our current Community Guidelines, which are being upgraded at present. Translation of both this blog and the new Community Guidelines will take a few days.

I sure wish we had seen this coming, but making changes for the betterment of society is a duty. I apologize for any confusion this update may have caused.

THE ORIGINAL STORY DEC 14, 2023: After a television broadcast that featured an OnlyFans model, Twitch has put some new regulations around sexual content in place. From now on you can see things like sexy dancing as well as body writing (where your lady friend writes all over your naked body). There are other ways to do artistic depictions of nudity too.

Twitch now allows the following content as long as it is properly labelled.

• Content that ‘deliberately highlighted breasts, buttocks or pelvic region,’ even when fully clothed.
• Fictionalized (drawn, animated, or sculpted) fully exposed female-presenting breasts and/or genitals or buttocks regardless of gender.
• Body writing on female-presenting breasts and/or buttocks regardless of gender.
• Erotic dances that involve disrobing or disrobing gestures, such as strip teases.
• Popular dances, such as twerking, grinding, and pole dancing are now allowed without a label.

The whole post also contains a FAQ where Twitch answers issues about nudity in gaming (pornographic games are forbidden, although games with "incidental nudity" are permitted), as well as its Content Classification Label System.

As the word "Artistic Nudity" began trending on the network, individuals on X/Twitter and elsewhere had lots of fun with the new standards.

Twitch has a history of having issues with sexual material

Twitch has had a history of handling bawdy forms of broadcasting. One example was 2021's so-called hot tub meta, in which broadcasters would lay sprawled out lewdly next to steaming jacuzzi water while operating video games with their feet. In 2022, Twitch launched a new tool for promoting porn on its home page.

Morgpie, a model on OnlyFans, received notoriety by appearing topless in a webcast held December 8--but only their chest / upper breast area was visible. Morgpie's sticking to the game of Twitch caused some dissent among its users, who thought that she was guilty and her action prompted clarification from Twitch. But then she was removed anyway.

Morgpie told Dexerto, speaking frankly: "I think, honestly, a big part of that is due to the outrage." “Because we are within TOS. Their TOS are very open-ended. Nobody is breaking the terms of service. Me standing here like this, it’s just my shoulders." Morpie certainly won't be the only streamer to attempt a workaround for Twitch's rules on sexual content. At the same time, Twitch says it is looking for feedback and that it will "continue to explore adding more personalized viewer settings in the future."