BDSM videos are one of the most popular creations of the porn industry. In fact, various recent surveys show that the popularity of these videos is on the rise in recent times. Porn videos have always remained highly controversial. Moreover, there have been various debates regarding whether to watch porn videos or not. However, irrespective of such debates, the porn industry has witnessed a sharp rise during the pandemic times. Pornhub, one of the biggest porn websites in the world, reported viewership increases ranging from 38% to 61%. This is well above its 2019 average of 115 million unique visits per day. Therefore, it goes without saying that BDSM videos being one of the most popular adult content also witnessed a sharp rise in viewership.
However, when the popularity of porn videos interferes with the proper working of interactive live streaming services like Twitch, then it really becomes a serious problem. In fact, they were forced to pause the “Boost this Stream” feature, in order to stop the boosting of pornographic content on the stream. Read this article to discover more about the incident.
“Boost this Stream” aka BDSM videos: What Is It?
Twitch, the Amazon-owned company, introduced a feature called “Boost this Stream” last October. This feature enables viewers to boost the channel of a content creator by paying a sum of money. This ensures better discoverability of the boosted channel. This is a great initiative from the developers.
In fact, this automatic, supercharged Hype Train had been added by the developers with the view to help the smaller streamers grow. Twitch announced paid boosting in September 2021. Finally, they began the trial run of this boosting feature in October 2021. The boosting of a channel depended on how much a person was willing to pay. In fact, the streamers themselves were able to pay in order to make their way up to the front page. This feature received mixed reactions. Some said that the feature had been designed to help the already established streamers to grow further, as they were in a better position to spend more while some others welcomed it.
Twitch Pauses “Boost this Stream”
Yes! You have read it right. Twitch has decided to hold back the “Boost this Stream” feature as of now. There is enough reason behind this decision. The reports from Dot Esports and PC Gamer, claim that from around 30th March, viewers started to see sexually explicit content on Twitch. Moreover, such content also made its way to the front page. These contents included stuff like BDSM videos, which we generally find on the adult sites like PornHub and all.
Such content allegedly started appearing on the “Live channels we think you’ll like” category. These contents, including porn videos and BDSM videos, violate the community guidelines of Twitch. Therefore, these videos should not have been present there. But, thanks to the “Boost this Stream” feature! It has been discovered that some obscure accounts on Twitch were paying to boost these sexually explicit content on Twitch. As a result, the Twitch authority has been forced to pause the feature, at least for the time being.
BDSM videos: What The Twitch Spokesperson Said
Kotaku’s video game website and blog reached out to a Twitch spokesperson for comments. The spokesperson stated that they are working on improving platform discoverability. They are, in fact, starting from scratch again. The spokesperson further added that the company has decided to pause the “Boost this Stream” feature “due to some safety considerations.” The Twitch spokesperson claimed that they have learned something from the experiment which will help them to come up with better launches in the future.
Sexually explicit content like BDSM videos is not allowed to be streamed on Twitch, as they violate the community guidelines. Therefore, the taking down of the boosting feature further strengthens Twitch’s take on its community guidelines.
Conclusion
Zach Bussey, the Twitch reporter, came down heavily on the “Boost this Stream” feature. Zach stated that the feature was never popular among the viewers. Moreover, Bussey claims that monetizing the front page discovery has been a disastrous decision. Therefore, the disastrous end to the feature was quite expected.
We, as audiences, always look for new features to be added to the platforms like Twitch. However, such features should come with more moderating options. It remains to be seen whether Twitch will bring back the feature with some changes. Even if it makes a comeback, they have to make sure that porn and BDSM videos do not pop up again on the front page.
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