Twitch has changed its hateful conduct policy to prohibit the use of the term “Zionist” to attack or demean individuals or groups.
“As part of our Hateful Conduct policy, we prohibit the use of terms that may not be harmful or abusive in isolation, but can be used as a slur or to denigrate others in certain contexts,” Twitch wrote. “In line with that approach, starting today, using the term ‘Zionist’ to attack or demean another individual or group of people on the basis of their background or religious belief is against our rules.”
Using the term in its political context, however—Zionism, simply put, is a modern political movement that advocates for an explicitly Jewish Israeli state—will not be against the rules, even if applied critically. Twitch’s community guidelines now specify that calling someone a “Zionist [animal]” is prohibited, for instance, but saying “Zionist settlers keep encroaching Palestinian borders” is allowed.
“Our goal isn’t to stifle conversation about or criticism of an institution or ideology, but to prevent coded hate directed at individuals and groups of people,” Twitch wrote.
The Anti-Defamation League, which pressured Twitch into banning several Arab streamers in October over a month-old TwitchCon panel, took credit for this change as well.
“We are glad Twitch acted on our recommendation to make this change,” the ADL wrote on X. “However, policy is only as strong as enforcement, and we will be vigilant and appropriately skeptical about Twitch’s enforcement of this new policy.”
The ADL’s stance on the issue is that “anti-Zionists are antisemitic.” The org says it “believes, strongly, that you cannot separate the fight for civil rights from the fight for the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland.”
Enforcement will indeed be a bugbear for Twitch, which will have to disentangle valid criticism from personal attack, and then convince people on both sides of the argument that its decision was correct.
