Kick has removed “unnecessary” exposure to gambling streams as part of a new update announced by boss Eddie Craven.
The platform, co-owned and operated by crypto-gambling platform Stake, has attracted controversy since its launch last year at the prevalence of gambling content on the streaming platform.
In comparison, Twitch issued a ban on gambling streams in 2022, while YouTube has been reported to have shadow-banned accounts dedicated to gambling despite it not being prevented in their ToS.
However, Kick boss Eddie Craven announced a new update on June 30 that removes “unnecessary” exposure to gambling streams.
The ability to toggle off all gambling streams is also being provided, among other categories that viewers may wish not to see, although this stops short of an outright ban like the one introduced by Twitch.
Instead, viewers will be able to find gambling content on Kick if they actively seek it out, and gambling still has dedicated channels, though it seems they will not show up as recommended streams unless a viewer decides they want to see them.
The move should make Kick’s close ties to Stake a lot less prominent, although it remains to be seen how effective these updates will be in an environment that has effectively been built around gambling.
Kick has become renowned for a much more relaxed content moderation than Twitch, though this has attracted controversy, and the platform’s long-term sustainability has been questioned due to the 95-5 revenue split with content creators.
While the changes will largely be welcomed, Kick continues to face significant competition in the streaming world from Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook.
