Twitch has changed a rule that limited how multistream chats worked, which made the community happy.
Twitch had a rule that restricted chat on multistream setups. Under the old rule, viewers could only use chat with one channel at a time when watching multiple streams side by side. Many streamers and viewers felt the restriction made multistream watching less natural and harder to follow.
Change on policy
Now, Twitch has removed that limitation. Viewers watching multistreams should be able to participate in chat more freely, without being locked into one channel’s chat at a time. This comes after streamers Nutty and Gigguk ran into Twitch’s old multistream chat rule while hosting joint streams. The policy limited chat to one channel at a time during multistreaming, which led to moderation issues and a ban on their combined chat setup.
According to Twitch CEO Dan Clancy, “We are updating our enforcement guidelines to make sure we are not enforcing actions for integrating combined chat on the video from your stream, such as what happened to Gigguk when he received the warning.”
“It’s important to note the streamer is still taking responsibility for what happens in the chat in third party platforms since we don’t control that,” Clancy added.
The multistream chat rule was one of the platform’s long-standing quirks. Creators and viewers who enjoy watching multiple streams together said the old setup made it difficult to discuss content in real time with others. Twitch has been criticized over the years for chat and moderation rules that feel out of step with how people actually use the platform.