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Twitch adds over 350 new tags including gender, race, and more

The newest Twitch tags include Transgender, Disabled, Black, and more.

Donovan Erskine

May 24, 2021 12:15 PM

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One of the wonders of Twitch is being able to find a community of people that you share interests and similarities with. One of the ways this is done is through tags, which streamers can assign to their broadcasts. These tags make the streams/channels visible to viewers who are searching for those specific category tags. Now, Twitch is adding more than 350 tags with a goal of being more inclusive, as the majority of these tags are focused on race, gender, sexual orientation, and more.

Twitch announced the hundreds of new tags coming to the livestreaming site with a new blog post. There are more than 350 new tags now rolling out to Twitch. Some of the new tags that streamers and viewers can use are Black, Transgender, Disabled, Ally, Veteran, and Vtuber. Of course, tags aren’t necessary but creators can apply them as they see fit.

We had planned to share this next week, but we’ve heard a lot of you talking and want to make sure the record is clear. Next week we’ll be adding 350+ new tags to celebrate yourself and your community.

— Twitch (@Twitch) May 22, 2021

Twitch also spoke to the fact that these tags are a bit overdue, as many have stated they should have been available long ago. “We intentionally designed that system for creators to be able to describe what they were streaming, not who they were or what they stood for. We have maintained this distinction since that time, and we were wrong.” Twitch consulted with GLAAD, The Trevor Project, AbleGamers, and SpecialEffect to create the new list of tags.

It’s hard to argue against the addition of these new tags, as they will only improve the experience for users, particularly those that come from marginalized and underrepresented demographics.

The new stream tags are arriving this week on Twitch. It’s one of a few major changes the company has made recently, as it also added a new category titled Pools, Hot Tubs, and Beaches.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_