A Twitch streamer has had her account suspended after starting a body painting stream almost entirely topless, and has reacted angrily to the decision on social media.
Body painting on Twitch is somewhat of a grey area in terms of the community guidelines, as some believe streamers use it as a loophole to avoid bans for sexually suggestive content under the guise of art and creativity.
However, there are many body painting streamers who, with the exception of the paint, are effectively nude from the waste up regularly, and receive no disciplinary action from Twitch.
One such streamer, AriaNina, appears to have pushed the boundaries just slightly too far, after starting her stream with only a small area of paint covering her chest, which was otherwise entirely exposed.
The clip, which can be viewed here (NSFW), was circulated on social media, and later removed from Twitch, along with AriaNina’s channel.
Following her ban, AriaNina claimed that she believed “body painting with an actual artist” was allowed.
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So proper body painting with an actual artist is against tos? Last checked it was allowed https://t.co/1aFpBoiZkb
— AriaNina (@AriaNina_) January 13, 2019
There is a specific section which addresses body painting in the Twitch community guidelines, however it does stipulate that the “intent” of the content is taken into consideration.
Body painting, dancing, and other creative activities that do not violate our policies are welcome on Twitch. If flagged as potential sexually suggestive content, we will consider the context and intent of the content to determine whether the reported conduct violates our policies.
AriaNina has since said that if she is not unbanned on Twitch, she will take her body painting activities elsewhere and stream them on YouTube instead.
Twitch was actually super fun!!! Thank you to @blonaldtrump for the help. Sad I got banned but Twas fun. Thanks for the love. Also you guys sure know how to create a toxic chat lol :crazy: thanks to the mods for trying to fix that lol. If I don’t get unbanned maybe I’ll try YT.
— AriaNina (@AriaNina_) January 13, 2019