Amazon’s Twitch makes changes to address child predation on platform

Twitch, the video game livestreaming site popular with teens and kids, announced changes it’s making on the platform to increase safety for its young users in the wake of criticism that it enables child predation.

On Tuesday, Amazon.com Inc.-owned Twitch said it has introduced mandatory phone verification requirements and fortified technology used to catch and terminate accounts belonging to people under 13, among other measures.

“Grooming is particularly insidious because it can be hidden in plain sight, and there are fewer established industry practices for detecting it,” Twitch said in a blog post. “These predators are not welcome and will not be tolerated on Twitch, and today we’re sharing an update regarding the continuous work we’re doing to combat them.”