For some time now, Twitch has had some very popular type of video, that didn’t have much to do with gaming, and could be found under the name Hot Tub Meta. If you are a Twitch-regular, you’ve certainly heard about it, and probably already watched some (or all) of it), since its popularity just keeps on growing.

Hot Tub Meta And Its Gigantic Mess

But if you haven’t: here are the basics. Hot Tub Meta became increasingly popular over the last six months or so and it includes women in bikinis spending time in hot tubs (or variants) talking to their viewers. And, as you might have guessed it – it has blown up, big time. Of course, aside from people being very happy to watch pretty girls in bikinis, there are also some prominent streamers, like Felix xQc Lengyel, who called it the “most pathetic thing on the site”, “trash” and “sad reality”.

On the other hand, there’s Twitch, everyone’s favourite streaming service out there, which is also very much known for some very strict rules and freakishly frequent bans, especially when it comes to sexualized content. So it’s not surprising people were shocked they are allowing these type of streams, with women who bathe in hot tubs, often showing more than expected (but also just as much as everyone hoped).

But, the hot tub streams were falling in the grey area, with bikinis being allowed on the site, under only one condition: that genitalia is covered. And Hot Tub Meta was born.

One Controversy To Rule Them All

Also, let’s not forget Twitch’s middle name is “controversy” and that the most popular streamers of the service are rarely without the adjective “controversial”. The streaming service thrives off controversy so much there should be a consensus among news outlets: instead of calling a streamer “controversial”, let’s rename them to “just another usual streamer”. But even with that taken into consideration, Hot Tub Meta was still stirring the controversy pot on a whole new level.

That also meant that Twitch had to react at some point, with the hard task of satisfying the streamer “elite”, their own set of rules and a whole lot of people who wanted to watch hot tub streams, bringing crazy traffic to Twitch.

Well, they finally publicly acknowledged the existence and popularity of Hot Tub Meta, although not in a way you might expect. They haven’t shut it down, they haven’t banned it, and they haven’t made it impossible to watch. On the contrary, they’ve given it its own specialized place and name. So the Hot Tub Meta became Pools, Hot Tubs and Beaches.

Money Makes The Twitch Go Round

What does that mean and how is it possible it even happened? Well, it’s as simple as it gets: money. Because people love watching pretty girls in hot tubs so much, Twitch simply couldn’t refuse all that new money streaming in. It wouldn’t be a wise business decision.

That is not, of course, the way Twitch explained it. In a lengthy post titled “Let’s Talk about Hot Tub Streams” they’ve stated a few things. Firstly, they made it clear they are not intending to shut down streams of people just because other people think they are sexy. Meaning they won’t ban female streamers for showing their bodies in this way.

Secondly, they’ve addressed the part about banning ads on hot tub videos, explaining they were honouring advertisers’ wishes. And to avoid those kinds of things in the future, they’ve decided to make a separate category. So basically, this highly restrictive, ban-trigger-happy, morally condescending streaming service decided to solve this issue that’s been going on for months by giving it another name, which they’ve basically done just to make the mess cleaner for one group only: the advertisers.

Let’s Not Get Carried Away

Not to be so gloomy, there is, of course, another side of the story. Sure, children should be protected online, many men can over-sexualize women, and there is always an ongoing topic of gender equality in the gaming industry, but let’s not forget that most of these streams aren’t much more than what you could see on an average day at the beach plus people are going to find a way to watch what they want be it on Twitch or anywhere else.

There are so many levels to this crazy mess Twitch (once more) created, it’s nearly impossible to cover them all. What do you think about it? Did Twitch make the right move or have they shot themselves in the foot, harming their reputation? Let us know what you think through our social media, let’s start a conversation.