Twitch removes Winnie the Pooh in Bikini emote

Twitch just can’t let one week go by without a major goof-up for matters so trivial that it always put the viewers on the edge and accuse the staff of selective enforcement.

Just last week Twitch finally ended the “Hot-Tub” saga by introducing a special category — Pools, Hot Tubs, and Beaches. While the move has been widely criticized for not properly addressing the TOS violations, it confirms that wearing a “bikini” doesn’t fall under the “sexually suggestive” content and won’t result in an instant ban. But that’s where the definition of “sexually suggested” content falls apart. 

Just today Twitch removed an emote of Winnie the Pooh in Bikini from streamer Peter “Pedguin” Mann’s channel for being “sexually suggestive”. That’s right, Twitch staff removed an emote in a bikini for being “sexually suggestive” which was manually approved by another staff member a day before while they allow real streamers in a bikini to stream daily.

The pedTub emote simply depicts Winnie the Pooh wearing a bikini and sitting in an inflatable pool, both of which are common in hot tub streams. 

Furious about the removal of the emote, Pedguin tweeted saying

The Saga continues. My pedTub emote got removed after twitch MANUALLY approved it. This baffles me as sexual suggestiveness is a spectrum that involves some degree of personal interpretation of where the line falls, why does Twitch find my pedTub sexual? Please grow up.

It is funny how Twitch finds wearing a bikini (where some are just blurring the line between NSFW and SFW) on stream as perfectly alright and safe for its audience, but an emote of a cartoon character (that doesn’t wear pants in cartoons) in a bikini as “sexually suggestive”. 

It feels like Twitch has a different set of rules for a certain section of streamers, while those streaming essentially the same thing are treated differently. There is no clear indication on what content falls under “sexually suggestive” and acts like above further creates a situation where several streamers and viewers accuse Twitch of being selective and treating others unfairly.  

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