Twitch’s official “Food” channel partnered with ‘cannabis enthusiasts’ PRØHBTD, but the content provided by the company has prompted scrutiny online.
In one segment, two women are seen to be rolling a joint, as one of them uses the other’s back and behind to help hold everything in place.
The clip, live streamed on the official Twitch ‘Food’ channel on January 4, was quickly shared to Reddit, as commenters suggested it was possibly in breach of Twitch’s own terms of service and community guidelines.
Twitch has faced criticism already in January, after a streamer who allegedly assaulted his pregnant wife on stream was allowed to return to the platform – Twitch later permanently removed the channel.
Another streamer claimed to have accidentally streamed topless after not realizing her camera was still broadcasting, receiving a three day suspension, which some felt was too lenient.
However, in this instance Twitch operates the channel in question, so the broadcasting of this content (see below) would be an internal issue between Twitch and the partner, PRØHBTD.
Twitter users responded to the new content on the official Food channel very negatively, calling it ‘vapid’, and were perplexed at the channel being marked as ‘Family Freindly’. Others called it a “slap in the face” to fans of the traditional content on ‘Food’.
Thanks, Scwedy! I think a lot of people are complaining because Food has had the “family friendly” tag for a while, and the current content is definitely not. We love Julia and Walter and change will always be met with criticism, but this show in particular is a big change.
— Ryan Dougherty (@RyanEDough) January 5, 2019
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Not my fave show but they could have done 2 simple changes to avoid so many complaints: 1: remove the ‘family friendly’ tab 2: make it an ’18+’ content show you have to click the link during this show’s run. Far from the worst thing I’ve seen on Twitch, but sloppily implemented.
— Jack Duluoz (@dharmaduke) January 5, 2019
I live in Oregon and it’s all legal here. I don’t care, I don’t want it pushed in my face from anywhere.
My kids don’t watch twitch, but I would definitely say that the channel needs to lose it’s “Family Friendly” tag. Just like any channel featuring alcohol or cigarettes would.
— Derpy (@DerpyAngel_) January 5, 2019
There is still a dedicated but small community of regulars that visit /food and loved that it was a place to chat about food and learn from true masters like Jacques. The recent change feels like a slap in the face to those people. Twitch isn’t TV. Build and nurture a community.
— Sentient_Pickle (@Sentient_Pickle) January 5, 2019
Some users were surprised to discover that the Food channel was an official Twitch channel, with this kind of ‘boundary pushing’ content typically consigned to lesser known channels.
Out of context, the clip is certainly bizarre, but even given the context, it appears odd that this kind of content would be streamed from an official Twitch channel.
