Twitch will do a better job of telling violators why their accounts have been suspended

TwitchCon San Diego is happening this weekend and, as usual, the platform had some news to share during the opening ceremony. First, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy said the service will give streamers and viewers who break the rules more clarity about why their accounts have been suspended.

Soon, Twitch will share any piece of chat that led to the suspension with the user in question via email and the complaints portal. Eventually, this will expand to clips, so broadcasters can see how they’ve been deemed to have broken the rules for live streaming or VOD. “We want to give you this information so you can see what you did, what policies were violated, and if you feel our decision was wrong, you can file a complaint,” Twitch wrote in a blog post.

The service also knows that permanent strikes on the account can cause problems for long-time streamers who may end up getting banned for a small amount of money. To that end, Twitch is introducing a strike expiration policy that begins in early 2025. “Low-severity strikes will no longer put streamers’ lives at risk, but we will still apply the rules for serious violations,” Twitch said. “Also, we add more transparency by showing you what led to the strike.”

On the broadcast front, streamers using Twitch’s Enhanced Broadcasting feature will be able to watch streams in 2K starting early next year. This option will be available in selected regions initially, and Twitch plans to expand it to other areas during 2025. And importantly, Clancy said “we’re working on 4K.”

Also coming in 2025 is the option for those using Advanced Streaming to stream vertical and landscape video simultaneously. The idea here is to give viewers a complete experience depending on which device they use to watch the stream.

Elsewhere, Twitch is planning some improvements to navigation in its redesigned mobile app, such as letting you access your Followed channels with a single swipe and prioritizing audio from the in-frame video player. Broadcasters will have access to a feature called Clip Carousel, which will highlight the best clips from their latest broadcasts and make it easy to share on desktop and mobile. The platform says it will be easier for viewers to create clips on mobile devices.

In addition, Twitch will roll out a shared chat option in the Co-Broadcast feature next week, allowing up to six creators streaming together to merge their chats. Broadcast mods will be able to monitor all messages in a shared chat and block or ban anyone who crosses the line. Creators who jump into a Shared Chat session can also turn off Shared Chat in their community.

Finally, Twitch will expand Unity Guilds and Creator Clubs. The idea of ​​both is to help broadcasters build connections, learn from each other and grow with the help of Twitch staff. In the past year, Twitch has opened a Black Guild, a Women’s Guild and a Hispanic and Latin Guild, and recently announced a Pride Guild for the LGBTQIA+ community. All four organizations will expand to welcome members from around the world next year.

Creator Clubs are a new feature that Twitch debuted last month in the DJ and IRL categories. Twitch says the wedding was higher than expected. Four more Creators Clubs were coming soon for the Artists/Makers, Music, VTubers and Coworking/Coding sections.