Twitch adds parental controls to block teen livestreams
▼ Summary
– Twitch has introduced parental controls allowing guardians to link their accounts with teens aged 13–17 for account management and a weekly activity summary.
– Controls enable parents to block teens from livestreaming and disable the Whispers private messaging feature.
– Parents can set daily time limits across devices and restrict content with labels like Gambling or Sexual Themes from searches and recommendations.
– The parental controls dashboard is accessed via Account Settings under the Family Center page.
– When a teen turns 18, their account is automatically unlinked from the parent’s control, and Twitch plans to add more optional features in the future.
Twitch has introduced a new suite of parental controls designed to give guardians greater oversight of teenage users, including the ability to block minors from broadcasting altogether. The feature allows parents or guardians to link their own Twitch accounts with those of children aged 13 to 17, unlocking a range of account management tools. As part of this update, guardians will receive a weekly email summary detailing their teen’s activity, such as which channels they watched and total hours spent on the platform.
Among the most notable restrictions is the option to prevent teens from livestreaming their own content. Parents can also disable Whispers, Twitch’s private messaging system, which effectively blocks minors from sending or receiving direct messages. Additionally, the controls enable flexible daily time limits that apply across all of a teen’s devices. Guardians can further restrict content by blocking certain classification labels , including Gambling, Mature-Rated Game, and Sexual Themes , from appearing in search results or recommended feeds.
The new Family Center dashboard is accessible under Account Settings. When a teen managed by parental controls turns 18, their account will be automatically unlinked from their parent’s account. Twitch has stated that it plans to explore additional parental control features in the future, while noting that the current settings are optional “at this time.”
(Source: The Verge)
