Geek News

Last month, Twitch announced that it would be updating its community guidelines in order to clarify its policies on harassment, hate speech and sexual content. But while they were initially set to go into effect on February 19th, Twitch decided to push that date back to March 5th in light of all of the questions it received over the new guidelines. At the time, Twitch said , "It's important [the guidelines] are clear to everyone and we need to better explain some sections, so we're pushing back enforcement to start March 5." It also said it was working on an updated FAQ regarding the guidelines, and today, Twitch released it. The FAQ clarifies what constitutes hateful conduct and what Twitch streamers are expected to do about hateful or harassing comments in their chats. Twitch says that it expects streamers to "make a good faith effort to moderate their chat" and suggests using tools like AutoMod, a moderation team or third-party tools. "So long ...

The man who was arrested last month in conjunction with the Kansas swatting incident that resulted in a fatality has now been charged. Tyler Barriss was arraigned in a Kansas court today and hit with three charges -- giving a false alarm, interference with law enforcement and involuntary manslaughter -- the latter of which carries a maximum prison sentence of 36 months and a fine of up to $300,000. The swatting hoax that Barriss was allegedly behind occurred last month and is believed to have been instigated by an argument over a Call of Duty game. One player, who is believed to have been Barriss, threatened to swat another. That person then provided an address that wasn't his own. Barriss has been accused of making a call to police saying that someone had been shot at that address and a hostage situation was ongoing. When police arrived, Andrew Finch, who was not involved with the Call of Duty game, was shot by an officer. Barriss was arrested a couple of days later in Los ...