Words You Can’t Say on Twitch – Twitch Banned Words 2022
Twitch is a global gaming platform that has people from every ethnicity, race, and gender on it.
So, to make this platform a safe space for everyone, Twitch has a strict policy against discrimination and harassment.
Hence, there are certain words and terms that you just cannot use on Twitch. Use of any offensive or discriminatory speech can result in suspension or permanent banning of your account.
The punishment depends on the severity of the crime. If your first offense is a mistake that you regret, your account will only be suspended for 1-30 days.
But, if you go on to do something intense and use Twitch-banned words, you might lose your account permanently.
Why Do I Need to Know About Twitch Banned Words?
As a streamer, Twitch might be your primary source of earnings. So, the last thing you want is to lose your revenue stream.
Hence, you must learn about words you can’t say on Twitch and also how to prevent your audience from speaking those words.
Yes, the actions of your audience can also result in the banning of your account. While it might seem a bit unfair, Twitch has provided you with means to avoid it.
So, you must avoid discriminatorily or hate speech in whatever way you can. Twitch should be a safe space for everyone, and no one should be degraded on this platform.
List of Twitch Banned Words
Officially, there are only a few words that are precisely banned on Twitch. You cannot use these words because the community has announced them.
As of December 16, 2020, Twitch has announced the following 3 words in its permanent ban list.
- Virgin
- Incel
- Simp
These words address the sexuality of a person and are intended to insult them. Hence, Twitch has banned these words permanently.
The meaning of the word Virgin should be obvious, but for those who are new to Twitch and don’t know about Simp or Incel, here’s a short intro.
- Simp refers to a person who is desperate for female attention in a stream.
- Incel refers to a person who blames others for his sexual shortcomings.
All three of these terms are used to insult the sexuality of a person and must never be used.
The term “!blind” was also added to Twitch’s banned words list after users reported it to be offensive to disabled people.
Besides these words, a channel might have its own list of banned words on Twitch.
What Sort of Words You Can’t Say on Twitch?
Besides the above-mentioned specific words, you must know that any kind of hate, insult, discrimination, threat, or racism is strictly banned on Twitch.
Doesn’t matter if you use the exact words or not, or if you use a slur and change the spellings, if your intent to hurt someone is clear, your account will be suspended.
There are 4 categories in general that can summarize the strictness of Twitch Terms and Conditions:
- Gender and Sexual Orientation
- Threats of Violence, Harassment, and Bullying
- Ethnicity or Race
- Religious and Political Beliefs
Any statement or term which falls in these categories and is used offensively will go against Twitch T&C.
Hence, you must avoid discussions about these categories and also prevent any such discussions on your streams.
Why You Should Not Use Twitch Banned Words?
Some people argue that Twitch T&C interfere with their freedom of speech. Anyone should be free to say anything on a platform like Twitch.
While we understand that completely when your freedom of speech turns into an insult to someone else, it should not be allowed.
Platforms like Twitch are global and have people from every community, ethnicity, and race. A streamer or a viewer is not familiar with the history of each person.
So, Twitch T&C is designed to prevent users from hurting the feelings and emotions of other people.
Using racial slurs, gender hate speech, and religious harassment with the intention to degrade others should never be allowed. Twitch isn’t made for any single gender, race, or religion and doesn’t hold one above the other.
Besides the discriminatory terms and words, Twitch has also prohibited threats and the use of violence on the streams.
Anyone threatening in the chat of streams, or showing the intention of physical violence will be banned from the platform.
For example, one of the streamers broke a keyboard on his head after losing a game, so his account was suspended for streaming self-harm.
Besides respecting others, the use of Twitch-banned words on your stream can also result in a loss of revenue. If your account is banned, you will lose credibility and also viewers.
You wouldn’t want to lose your revenue stream, especially if you have steady growth on the platform.
How to Prevent the Use of Twitch Banned Words on Your Stream?
If you are respecting Twitch T&C, but your partner streamer or some of the viewers on your stream are not, there are certain ways you can control this behavior.
Obviously, people who are running Twitch aren’t fools, they won’t ban your account for something which wasn’t your mistake and couldn’t be avoided.
If you are taking steps to prevent the use of any discriminatory or offensive terms on your platform, you will be safe.
We understand that some random troll can pop up in your stream and use offensive words, but there are steps you can take to avoid it.
How to Ban Words on Twitch?
While playing games and streaming, you cannot always keep your focus on who’s saying what.
Fortunately, Twitch has a feature that allows you to create your own list of banned words so that you wouldn’t have to worry about anyone using those words in chats.
Hence, to prevent your account from getting banned, you should include all the discriminatory words, racial slurs, and hate words that you can find in the list.
Here’s how you can ban words on your Twitch channel.
- Go to Twitch in your web browser and log into your account.
- Click on your Profile icon in the top right corner of the screen.
- Click on the Creators Dashboard option from the menu.
- Click on Settings to expand it in the left sidebar.
- Click on Moderation.
- You can see the option, Blocked Terms, and Phrases.
- You can add any words, terms, and phrases you want to this list.
- Make sure you add all the discriminatory words that are commonly used.
- Also, just to be safe, add the misspelled version of those words and slang.
Once you have added these words to the list, they will remain active and will prevent any such words in the chat.
If you come across something, later on, you can always add it to the list.
We recommend that you add some moderators to your channel who can monitor the chats from time to time and update the list.
Also, create strict rules for your channel, so viewers and chatters can know that you won’t tolerate anything against any race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or ethnicity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Wrapping Up!
Twitch provides an amazing earning opportunity to gamers and streamers, and the last thing you would want is to ruin your chances because of a toxic chat.
So, not only you should not use Twitch-banned words, but also take measures to prevent the use of such words, terms, and phrases by others on your channel.
We hope the guide above provided you with a detailed insight on what kind of words and phrases you should avoid on the platform.
Let us know in the comments what you think about Twitch’s policies on banned words.