Twitch wants users decide if they want to see gambling

Twitch has been hard-pressed to do something about the proliferation of gambling content. From crackdown on some of its biggest stars and their gambling channels to trying to walk the line between conscious consumers and loyalist fan bases, the Amazon-owned giant has been in hot water ever since xQc and Trainwrecks, two prominent content creators, left for Kick, a rival platform.

Where does this leave Twitch? For one it’s thrown a monkey wrench in the works, trying to establish the company’s dominance in the streaming sector. The arrival of Kick, which Trainwrecks co-founded, enjoyed quick success and pried away other high-grossing content creators such as Amouranth. Still, the success has been so far limited, never mind the chatter about Kick possibly looking to make use of its monstrous war chest and buy out its competitor outright.

Twitch, though, has proven resilient to such forays – for now – with the company announcing in a recent update that it will be looking to give viewers more control over their own experience. The platform wants to ensure that it is more welcoming to all age groups and preferences, and has now allowed users to use Content Classification Labels to tune out certain adult themes and streams, which is where gambling falls in.

CCL is not exactly a new concept, as Twitch has been fiddling with it for well over a year. Yet, there are now new filters, such as Content Display Preferences in Profile Settings to make use of that allow you to finally hide content that you find unpalatable.

The ability to let users restrict content they don’t want to see is a move right out of Kick’s playbook, which touted its tooth that it would let users decide on gambling and not crush them under weighty guidelines the community at large may not agree with.

Essentially, a new filter will now allow users who wish to exclude CCL content to limit their exposure to various videos that could fall under the categories of Sexual Themes, Drugs/Intoxication, Gambling, Violent & Graphic Depictions, Significant Profanity, or Mature Rated Games.

As Twitch said: "Streams labeled with CCLs you have chosen to filter out will not be recommended to you and will not show up as you browse categories or search for content." Although Twitch has shown some leniency and enabled consumers to make their own choices about the content they see, the platform is still loath to allow offshore gambling sites onto its platform.

Essentially, all websites that are not licensed in the United States are presently prohibited from streaming on Twitch, as the company is looking to limit its potential exposure to legal ramifications which have the unseemly habit of catching up to you when you least expect them.

Image credit: Twitch