Popular streaming platform Twitch recently banned a couple of words a few days ago, including the term “simp.” However, this decision may have backfired because it appears that the usage of the word has since doubled.
For a bit of context, Twitch decided to ban supposedly insulting words such as “simp” and “virgin” after a town hall took place addressing and discussing issues that have been taking place within the community.
The platform has been going through a lot recently, such as the DMCA takedown notices being delivered to content creators left and right due to in-game copyrighted music or that time when Twitch decided to take down a tag that was considered by many to be ableist.
These controversies didn’t stop the audience from hopping onto the platform though, so much so that Twitch reached a whole new record last month. This just does to show that no matter what, dedicated users will always tune into the platform.
Even now that certain terms have been banned, users still continue to use them — even more now since the ban was implemented.
According to Stream Hatchet’s analytics update, audience members have doubled the use of the word “simp” ever since it was banned. Before it was banned, the term’s average usage was around 71,000 mentions in a day. Ever since the ban, however, the word “simp” was mentioned around 140,000 times on December 16.
While Stream Hatchet didn’t mention whether or not the words “incel” or “virgin” — two words that have also been banned —increased in usage too, we can assume that they’ve most likely been used even more now on the Twitch chat. However, they probably didn’t double in usage the way “simp” did.
That being said, we’re not entirely surprised that users did the exact opposite of what the platform wanted them to do. After all, this is a trait that the internet has shown many times: defying implemented rules that they don’t think make a lot of sense.
The indignation especially reared its head when Twitch users discovered that the platform was quick to ban words such as “virgin” and “simp” yet couldn’t completely ban the n-word. Twitch claims that the usage of the slur would require more context in order to know if it was used in an offensive or discriminatory way.
While many could see what Twitch’s point was, they still found that this decision wasn’t exactly a good one, especially since words like “simp” and “virgin” aren’t as hurtful and hateful as the n-word.
In any case, the fact that the banned word has significantly increased in usage is just a classic case of internet users refusing to follow implemented rules and regulations, wanting instead to keep saying the word for fun and to see just how far they can get away with it.
We have yet to see how Twitch will respond to this situation. Will the platform do something about the increased usage or will the bots be tweaked to work double-time in order to catch these words on the chat? “Simp” has been used so much though that we’re beginning to wonder if the chatbot itself will be capable of censoring out everything. In any case, we’ll keep everyone updated if there’s anything new regarding this.
