• Barely a day after announcing sweeping changes to its sexual content policy, Twitch has reversed the decision.
• The reason for the switch back is the result of photorealistic AI-generated content flooding the streaming platform.
• Moving forward, depictions of both fake and real nudity are banned on Twitch.

It is one step forward and one step back for Twitch, as the streaming platform decided to reverse its recent decision to update its sexual content policy.

This happened a little over 24 hours after the update was first announced last week, which was initially made in response to artists on Twitch who felt marginalised by the fact that their artwork was not permitted on the platform due to the fact that it may have featured fictionalised nudity.

In an effort to address this, along with other forms of nudity that was cropping up on the platform, Twitch decided to allow nudity provided streams were clearly labelled as such.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the sexual content policy update resulted in nudity flooding Twitch, so much so that it has since had to revert to its previous policy. The reason for the revert, as TechCrunch reports, is a significant increase in the streaming of photorealistic AI-generated nudity.

“Much of the content created has been met with community concern. These are concerns we share. Upon reflection, we have decided that we went too far with this change. Digital depictions of nudity present a unique challenge–AI can be used to create realistic images, and it can be hard to distinguish between digital art and photography,” explained Twitch CEO Dan Clancy in a blog post.

“So, effective today, we are rolling back the artistic nudity changes. Moving forward, depictions of real or fictional nudity won’t be allowed on Twitch, regardless of the medium. This restriction does not apply to Mature-rated games,” he clarified.

Clancy concluded the blog post by noting that this latest update to the sexual content policy will be implemented over the coming days, along with highlighting that this was not the result the platform wanted when the changes were first announced.

“While I wish we would have predicted this outcome, part of our job is to make adjustments that serve the community. I apologize for the confusion that this update has caused,” he said.

Whether it is back to the drawing board for Twitch on the subject of nudity remains to be seen, but as of the time of writing, anything sexually explicit or overly suggestive is not allowed on the platform.