The Internet, while a place where people may feel safer than the physical world definitely still remains a platform that gives precedence to corporations. The reason for this lies in the morbid truth that the Internet has become increasingly more commercialized, where if one’s content has no desire or potential to be monetized, it is relegated to some obscure corner of the Web. Furthermore, the idea of identity tourism is something that has also been on the rise on the Internet and directly correlates to the projected profitability of certain groups. For example, one platform that has been increasingly in the spotlight for business practices that seem to prioritize profit over fairness is Twitch. Recently, the new trend of hot tub streams has recently consumed the platform; for those who are unaware, hot tub streams are where streamers, who are overwhelmingly young, female, and conventionally attractive, host a stream from a hot tub while wearing swimwear.
Now, while these streams technically follow Twitch’s guidelines, which dictate appropriate clothing for the streamed venue, such as swimwear attire when streaming from a pool, beach, or hot tub, this issue has split the community on various fronts. One issue in particular is Twitch’s role in their permissiveness of this new trend; whereas before Twitch had an extremely strict enforcement policy on modesty, sometimes almost absurdly rigid, they have uncharacteristically remained quiet on this situation. In turn, this leads to some streamers taking to social media, commenting they feel slighted by what they characterize as an inconsistent and unfair policy of enforcement, or lack thereof, of Twitch’s guidelines. Consequently, there comes the added rhetoric that shines a spotlight on the idea that coincidentally the sole time Twitch is lax in their enforcement is also the one where the affected demographic would be young fair-skinned women. In this way we see what could be construed as Twitch’s exploitation of young attractive women in the pursuit of profits, most notably, from an overwhelmingly younger and male audience.
As an added point of view, other female streamers, who stream video games on a platform primarily designed to stream video games, have called attention to the issue that Twitch’s approval of these hyper sexualized streams have begun to affect those that do not partake in these hot tub streams. Viewers that have come to expect hot tub streams will venture into streams and attempt to pressure the streamer into doing their own hot tub stream or outright demand some sexualized act be performed, becoming verbally abusive when their demands are refuted. Overall, Twitch’s comfort with increased profits have emboldened them to turn a blind eye against their consumer’s valid points of discomfort, even at the expense of values such as safety and fairness on their platform.