What do children and young people say to look out for:
17% of the children and young people who reviewed Twitch thought that it can be risky. The main reasons they gave were:
- Adverts
- Because it’s live you don’t know what you’re going to see
- The comments can be offensive and there is bullying/trolling
Why young people like it:
The main things that young people told us they liked about this site were:
- It’s entertaining
- It’s a fun way to talk to people
- The live streaming – although some young people mentioned that this can be risky too
We asked parents whether they were asked to verify their phone number or email address to sign up to this site. We also asked them how easy or difficult it would be for a child to pretend to be older to sign up.
Parents say:
- “They need to do more, it is far too easy to create an account and be signed in automatically.” – Father of children aged 6, 9 and 10
- “I used Facebook to sign up and it would be incredibly easy to gain 'under-age' access to this site if someone already had an 'under-age' Facebook account. There is no secondary age check/ask.” – Father of children aged 11, 15 and 16
We asked parents how easy it was to find out how to report unsuitable content, to find out if the site is moderated, to block other users and to hide or report an unwanted message or picture.
Parents say:
- “There is a report button on individual live-stream pages. However those 'featured' streams on the main-page have no report button directly there.” – Father of children aged 11, 15 and 16
Young people say:
- 47% of young people who reviewed Twitch said they know how to report on this site.
- 37% said they know how to block someone.
More information:
Find out more about blocking here and about reporting here.
We asked parents how easy it was to find information about privacy and to change the settings to ensure the account is private.
Parents say:
- “Accounts are private by default.” - Father of 11yr old boy
Young people say:
- 40% of young people who reviewed Twitch said they know how to change their privacy settings on this site.
- 25% said they know how to turn off their location settings.
More information:
Read about your privacy options here.
We asked parents how easy it was to find out whether this site has rules or community standards, to find safety information for children and parents, and to find links to support services.
Parents say:
- “The standards are high but it’s relatively easy for streamers to get around the rules or simply ignore them in many cases.” - Father of 14yr old girl
More information:
Read about Twitch’s suspension policy here.
This site allows live streaming. Find out more about live streaming here.
You can find out more about online gaming on the NSPCC website here.
If something’s upset you, I can help – whether it’s online or offline. Where else could you find help? Let’s look together.
