Twitch Bans Using ‘Zionist’ To ‘Attack Or Denigrate’ But Says You Can Still Use It To Talk About The Political Movement

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Twitch has changed its hateful conduct policy to prohibit the use of the term “Zionist” to attack or denigrate individuals or groups.

“As part of our hateful conduct policy, we prohibit the use of language that may not be harmful or abusive in isolation, but may be used as a slur or to demean others in certain contexts,” Twitch wrote. “In line with that approach, as of today, it is against our rules to use the term ‘Zionist’ to attack or denigrate another person or group of people on the basis of their background or religious beliefs.”

Using the term in its political context—Zionism, simply put, is a modern political movement that advocates an explicitly Jewish Israeli state—would not be against the rules, even if used critically. Twitch’s community guidelines now specify that, for example, calling someone a “Zionist (animal)” is forbidden, but saying “Zionist settlers keep encroaching on the Palestinian borders” is allowed.

“Our goal is not 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 banning more Arab streamers in October over a month-old TwitchCon panel, also took credit for this change.

“We are pleased that Twitch acted on our recommendation to make this change,” ADL wrote X. “However, policy is only as strong as enforcement, and we will be vigilant and appropriately skeptical of Twitch’s enforcement of this new policy.”

The ADL’s position on the issue is that “anti-Zionists are anti-Semitic.” The org says it “strongly believes that one cannot separate the struggle for civil rights from the struggle for the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland.”

Enforcement will actually be a bugbear for Twitch, which will have to separate valid criticism from personal attacks and then convince people on both sides of the argument that its decision was correct.