It's become apparent after reports from numerous Twitch streamers that emotes relating to the word "simp" are being taken down, with the company classifying them as harassment.

Twitch further elaborates that the word "simp" is disallowed content, as it constitutes as an insult, bullying or threatening. For the most part, streamers and viewers alike are simply confused as to why this would be a priority, but some are pretty peeved that the emotes are being taken down at all.

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For those that aren't familiar with the term simp, don't feel bad. Though the word has a history of use dating back to the 90s, but it has only recently been popularized and entered into meme culture. Though its connotation has changed over the years, it has generally always referred to an extremely "thirsty" man.

twitch streamer alinity

When pressed on the issue, Twitch has refused to elaborate further than what seems like a scripted response, claiming that its "...community guidelines prohibit harassment, and as a part of this, we deny emotes that are designed to abuse or demean others, or can be misused for such behavior." Though this stance is understandable, the targeting and removal of an entire word seems drastic. The phrase simp, although somewhat controversial, is certainly nowhere near as frowned upon as certain racial slurs or other foul language, and even some of those words are allowed on Twitch.

Furthermore, there is some irony in the situation, as following Alinity's recent wardrobe malfunction and what many considered an insufficient ban, Twitch itself has been accused of being a simp, treating Alinity less harshly than others. Though this is more than likely not the reason, there are many poking fun at Twitch claiming that the emote removal is a knee jerk reaction to those claims. That said, something must have spurred Twitch into action regarding these emotes, and it is possible that a disgruntled viewer felt targeted by one of these emotes. It is difficult to say without more information however.

Finally, although many find the whole situation funny if not a bit strange, there are those taking this more seriously, claiming that Twitch is infringing on freedom of speech. The exclusion of hateful or sexual content on a private platform is completely acceptable, but can get to be a slippery slope when deciding what constitutes as that. For example, DansGaming had an emote removed for sexual content despite it being far from sexual in any way.

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Source: Kotaku