Twitch will fire all members of its security advisory committee on Friday, according to sources familiar with the situation and documents seen by CNBC.
The Board is a resource nine Industry experts, streamers and moderators advise on trust and safety issues related to children, nudity, banned users and more on Twitch.
this AmazonOwned game streaming company launched Security Advisory Committee According to the company’s website, the program will “enhance Twitch’s approach to trust and safety on the platform” and guide decision-making in May 2020. According to the webpage, the committee advises Twitch on “drafting new policies and policy updates,” “developing products and features to improve safety and moderation,” and “protecting the interests of marginalized groups.”
For four years, the organization has advised the company on “hateful attacks” against marginalized groups and nudity policies.
But on the afternoon of May 6, council members were called into a meeting after receiving an email stating that all existing contracts would end on May 31, 2024, and that no payments would be received in the second half of 2024.
This committee is not made up of Twitch employees; consultantincluding Dr. Sameer Hinduja, co-director of the Center for Cyberbullying Research; Emma Llansó, director of the Free Expression Program at the Center for Democracy and Technology; Dr. TL Taylor, co-founder and director of AnyKey, an advocate for diversity and diversity in gaming tolerance.
“Going forward, the Safety Advisory Committee will be primarily composed of individuals who serve as Twitch ambassadors,” the email seen by CNBC said.
In a formal notification in the same email, the company wrote: “Pursuant to Section 5(a) of the SAC Consulting Agreement, we are writing to provide you with notice of termination… This means that the second payment in 2024 will not be due issued.
Twitch Ambassadors are users of the streaming platform “selected specifically for their positive impact on the Twitch community,” according to the company’s website.
Compensation depends on the length of the contract, but council members will be paid between $10,000 and $20,000 every 12 months, according to a source familiar with the contract.
Twitch’s decision to end its SAC contract comes as the tech industry has been retrenching and cutting jobs for more than a year, particularly in security and ethics teams, which some companies view as cost centers. The cuts come at a time of rising cyberbullying, which has been linked to rising rates of self-harm among teenagers, and as the spread of misinformation and violent content collides with the explosive use of artificial intelligence.
A year ago, Twitch fired about 50 employees responsible for monitoring abusive, illegal or harmful behavior, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to CNBC at the time. The Trust & Safety team (known internally as T&S) has lost about 15% of its staff, and content moderation seems more important than ever.
Twitch did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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