In June, Twitch began investigating and banning streamers accused of sex crimes and abuse on and off the platform, and according to a new report from GamesIndsutry.biz, these struggles stem from problems within the company, which has a long documented history of sexism, racism, and cheating

Twitch, which has been a major player in the company's success.

The report, which includes interviews with 16 employees from "every era" of Twitch, goes deep into the company's history, including before 2014, when it was known as Justin.tv. It was a "boys' club. 'There was a clear bias that women and men were different, and women weren't given the same opportunities. They were preyed upon."

Several employees cite Amazon's acquisition of Twitch in 2014 as a turning point in the company's becoming more professional and diversity-focused. However, problems persisted, especially with internal attitudes toward female streamers: according to the report, male employees often referred to them as "boob streamers" and joked that they were sleeping with people for favors or career advancement. One employee cited the example of Kaceytron, a streamer with 532,000 followers. Her low-cut tops made some men in the company so worried that they began looking for ways to get her off the platform. [This woman is showing too much cleavage, which is a problem. And we need to come up with a way that we can kick her off this website without bending our rules."

Twitch tightened its rules against sexual content in early 2018, stating that "clothing in game streams, most at-home streams, and all profile/channel images must be appropriate for public streets, malls, and restaurants." The moderators also said that in determining whether content crosses the line, they will "review the (streamer's) content as a whole," including "contextual elements such as stream title, camera angles, emotes, panels, attire, overlays, chat moderation, etc."

While that would likely allow for flexibility, Twitch has nonetheless made unpopular and conservative judgments about women's attire: in September 2019, for example, streamer Fareeha was warned for wearing traditional workout clothes during her stream, streamer of Quqco was suspended for cosplaying the Street Fighter character Chun-Li.

Clearly, there were many concerns about women's attire, but according to the report, there were fewer concerns about women's health on the platform.

"The concerns of female streamers were not taken seriously," said an "early" Twitch employee." There was no talk about whether a formal system should be created, or any kind of tool to address the constant harassment. There was an attitude in the office, especially on the partnership team, of "what do you expect from boob streamers?""

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Other employees interviewed for the report said that Twitch routinely ignored complaints of harassment and abuse in the office and at social events, that racism and hateful speech were routinely tolerated, and that Twitch's personnel often did not support complaints or claimed that they were more focused on protecting "untouchable" management than following up. There was also criticism of Twitch's "party" culture, both at internal events and at industry trade shows like PAX and TwitchCon. One former employee said, "It's like if you don't go to a Twitch party and party all night and do crazy things, you're not really part of the organization."

In recent days, Twitch has taken a more visible approach to promoting diversity and cracking down on abusive and hateful behavior on its platform. However, there have been clashes along the way, including the introduction and removal of an emote intended to celebrate Hispanic culture that was widely criticized for using stereotypical imagery. Some former employees also expressed doubts about the substance of Twitch's commitment.

"You can spend all the money in the world on parkas and a first-class cafeteria in the San Francisco office. But what are we actually doing from a systems-level perspective to encourage diversity?" That work was not being done."

However, a Twitch representative defended the company's current approach and the steps it has taken to improve its response to complaints of cheating and abuse.

"We take allegations of this nature, whether on our service or internally, extremely seriously and are working quickly to investigate and address them appropriately," a Twitch representative said. Any suggestion to the contrary is a misrepresentation of our culture, leadership and values." Many of these allegations are several years old and we have taken numerous steps to better protect and support our employees and community and will continue to invest time and resources in this area."

The full report can be read at GamesIndustry.biz. It is quite lengthy and contains much more specific details than this summary.

Update: In response to the report's release, a Twitch spokesperson issued a statement reiterating that the company will fully address any allegations of misconduct. Full statement

"We are deeply disappointed to read the statements of harm received from people who have had negative experiences on or with Twitch. Clearly, some of the processes and policies we have had in the past have not been sufficient to make our employees and community members feel safe and valued. While we are not without fault, nor do we have any right to be criticized, this article does not fully acknowledge all the ways our company has evolved and the many steps we have taken over the years to build a company that protects and supports our employees and community We have not. We have invested heavily in our human resources and safety teams, brought on new and diverse leadership, and will continue to invest time and resources in this area. We take allegations of this nature, whether on our services or internally, extremely seriously and will work quickly to investigate and address them appropriately, engaging third parties where necessary to ensure impartiality. Any allegations to the contrary are simply misrepresentative of our culture and values."