Streaming platform Twitch has introduced new parental control tools that allow guardians to regulate the time spent on the service or search for streams with sexual themes or gambling. Parents will also be able to completely block live broadcasts for teenagers aged 13 to 17.
Streaming platform Twitch has introduced new parental control tools that allow guardians to regulate the time spent on the service or search for streams with sexual themes or gambling. Parents will also be able to completely block live broadcasts for teenagers aged 13 to 17.
As The Verge notes, parents can link their account to their child’s profile through the new «Family Center» section in account settings. After that, they will receive weekly email reports on their teen’s activity, including a list of channels viewed and the number of hours spent on the platform.
In addition to banning the broadcasting of their own content, guardians can disable the private messaging feature («Whispers»), blocking the ability of minors to send or receive private messages. The tools also allow you to set flexible daily screen time limits across devices and hide recommendations and search for streams with labels like «Gambling,» «Adult Games,» or «Sexual Themes.»
Once a user turns 18, the profile is automatically unlinked from the parent’s account. Twitch notes that currently connecting to the Family Center is optional, but the company plans to expand the functionality for the safety of teenagers in the future.
Amazon-owned Twitch has been steadily updating its safety rules as US and EU regulators tighten their grip on protecting minors online. Similar tools for controlling content and time limits have been implemented by other major platforms, including Meta, TikTok and YouTube.
Recall that the Ukrainian language continues to break records in live streaming and is already on the verge of the top 10 most popular languages on Twitch, ahead of Turkish, Czech, Swedish and Hungarian. According to the analytical company Streams Charts, 25% of the total number of hours of viewing Ukrainian-language broadcasts are generated by viewers from outside Ukraine.
