‘MrBeast’ joins the revolt against Twitch’s new rules

With over 158 million followers on YouTube alone, MrBeast (real name Jimmy Donaldson) has an army of fans that he frequently calls on for help. 

Now he’s hoping he can sway the bosses at Twitch to reconsider its latest branded and sponsored content policy changes.

‘Hey Twitch, how about instead of handicapping what creators make, you help them make more? Seems more logical,’ he wrote on Twitter moments after the streaming platform announced it will impose significant limitations on sponsored streams, on Tuesday.

In a now-deleted tweet, he called the new guidelines the ‘funniest thing’ he’s seen all year before teasing that he might stream on a rival platform, despite not being a gamer, just to “spite them”.

Hey @Twitch how about instead of handicapping what creators make, you help them make more? Seems more logical.

— MrBeast (@MrBeast) June 6, 2023

Why MrBeast is calling out Twitch’s new policy

The popular streaming site’s updated branded and sponsored content policy outright bans any “burned in” video, audio or display ads. 

Meanwhile, on-stream brand logos or overlays will now be limited to 3% of a screen size, providing streamers with very little area to work with. 

Twitch has new Branded Content Guidelines.

– On-stream logos are limited to 3% of screen size.
– Burned-in video Ads are NOT allowed.
– Burned-in Display Ads are NOT allowed.
– Burned-in Audio Ads are NOT allowed.#TwitchNews #TOSgg pic.twitter.com/QrlrQhGAbm

— Zach Bussey (@zachbussey) June 6, 2023

The rules, which come into effect on 1 July, impose limitations specifically on sponsored streams—a big revenue stream for many content creators.

These policy modifications were met with overwhelmingly negative feedback, including strong opposition from prominent streamers like Asmongold, who called for a Twitch boycott.

I don’t say it lightly but I think this is a legitimate situation where streamers should consider boycotting Twitch or moving to other platforms

Making common and harmless forms of advertisement literally against ToS so Twitch can monopolize more of streamers income https://t.co/LgofvJKnWo

— Zack (@Asmongold) June 6, 2023

Although changes won’t really impact MrBeast who rarely ever streams, as a content creator, he resonates with how streamers may be feeling and is apparently voicing his concerns on their behalf. 

“If YouTube pulled this sh*t I’d lose my mind,” he empathized, before following Kick, a rival streaming platform, on Twitter.

Twitch: Too little, too late

In the aftermath of MrBeast’s backlash, Twitch did release a statement on Twitter, admitting that its new policy was “overly broad” and “created confusion and frustration”.

“We do not intend to limit streamers’ ability to enter into direct relationships with sponsors, and we understand that this is an important part of how streamers earn revenue,” it added.

“We wanted to clarify our existing ads policy that was intended to prohibit third party ad networks from selling burned in video and display ads on Twitch, which is consistent with other services.”

But its response could be too little, too late. 

Kick didn’t waste any time capitalizing on MrBeast’s attention. It promptly tweeted that its account had just been followed by “the GOAT” (the greatest of all time) while crowing: “It’s time for Kick to Takeover”.

In response, MrBeast teased doing a “fun stream to protest Twitch” and it’s even piqued the interest of Elon Musk.

Great!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 7, 2023

With just one word, the Twitter and Tesla owner weighed into the debate and seemingly threw his support behind the Twitch protest: “Great!”