(The exception, Twitch said, shows protest content that violates its guidelines because it is extremely violent or contains illegal acts.)
Some streamers said that while they had no official communication with Twitch about the protests, company employees were supporting their efforts privately. Mr Whiting said a Twitch employee contacted him and said: “Hey, I’ve seen what you’re doing – glad to have you on the platform showing this kind of coverage. If you have need advice, let me know.
Twitch, which in many ways is akin to YouTube, has over seven million different channels and big stars like Fortnite player Turner Tenney, known as Tfue. It’s been a long time dominated video game live streaming. In May, people watched more than 1.7 billion hours of live video on the platform, up from 939 million hours a year earlier, according to data compiled by Twitch analytics website SullyGnome and provided by StreamElements, a live streaming service website. Viewers can directly interact with streamers via a chat function.
When the protests over Mr Floyd’s murder in police custody began, streamers flocked to Twitch to provide lengthy alternatives to what some said were out-of-context video clips from major news outlets.
Many said they chose Twitch because they knew the site from video games and wanted to tap into a tech-savvy audience. Twitch also has technical tools for live streaming that other platforms lack, they said, such as a robust moderation system to prevent spam in chats.
Longtime streamer Natalie Casanova streamed Los Angeles’ Black Lives Matter protests on her ZombieUnicorn Chain on Twitch, which has 220,000 subscribers. She said Twitch allowed her to advertise for a campaign to raise money for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
“They’re used to me talking about things openly, so my community especially appreciated it,” Ms Casanova, 33, said of her coverage of the protests. “It moved them.”
