Morgpie is an innovator

Earlier this month, Twitch streamer and OnlyFans creator Morgpie had a stroke of genius. Go to her account, and you’ll see her innovations come to life. In one stream, she filmed her butt on a glass chair, ground-level view, while she played Bloons Tower Defense. And this was just the tip of the iceberg.

Her work just gets better, pushing the artistic boundaries of the ass-cam genre even further. In another stream, you can see her demonstrating her true ingenuity — playing Fortnite on a green screen over her butt. 

Soon after Morgpie pioneered this genre of content (for the uninitiated, this is known as a “meta” on Twitch), a swarm of copycats followed, green-screening gameplay on all kinds of body parts.

Then, on March 27, Twitch banned the meta. It said it no longer allows “content that focuses on intimate body parts for a prolonged period of time.” These body parts include the “buttocks, groin, or breasts.”  

This isn’t the first time Morgpie’s creativity has led Twitch to a reactionary policy change. After Morgpie trailblazed the “black bar meta,” in which she implied nudity by putting a black censor bar over her chest, the trend went viral. Soon after, Twitch banned implied nudity from the platform. 

The Amazon-owned streaming platform has had a rocky relationship with sexual content in the past. In December 2023, just two days after announcing new policies loosening its restrictions on artistic nudity, it rolled back the changes. This led artists and NSFW creators to feel jaded, jerked around, and uncertain about their future on the platform.

In a recent interview with Aftermath, Twitch CEO Dan Clancy said Twitch did not intend for the artistic nudity change to be permanent. He said the rule reversal was a result of poor “execution, rather than intention.” He alleged he wants the platform to be safe for NSFW content. However, he said the company will need to implement better tagging and thumbnail infrastructure for that to become a reality.

I hope that’s true. My main issue with Twitch’s policy updates is that they are all so reactive. All these decisions happen so quickly that I can’t imagine Twitch is getting creators’ input in any meaningful way. For those creators whose livelihoods are on the line, Twitch’s lack of clear direction is scary. Not only has Twitch flip-flopped on NSFW content, but it also keeps going back and forth on its monetization policies. 

Overall, if Twitch continues further down this road, I can’t imagine it’s a smart business decision. Pressuring these lucrative adult creators to move to alternative platforms like Kick or Rumble just seems like a bad business move, with the company still unprofitable after nine years of operating at a loss.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not really a fan of an ass cam thumbnail sneak attacking me when I log onto Twitch. I also think pornography, at least in its current state, is unhealthy for teens who might stumble upon it on the platform. (Twitch only allows those above the age of 13 to join, but it claims over 70% of its users are between 18-34 years old.)

However, there are ways to add NSFW filters, tags, thumbnail blurring, and other safety mechanisms that could prevent all of this. Social media, in general, isn’t really a safe environment for young kids anyway. So it’s kind of on parents to step in there.

I’m not going to link to this, but go into any of these comment sections talking about this topic, and you’ll see male streamers “dunking” on women for “exploiting themselves” and “ruining” Twitch. It’s pretty clear right now that many of the male-dominated parts of the internet are regressing to a GamerGate level of moralistic politics. (You can read some of our recent reporting about that trend here.)

It’s hypocritical. On Twitch, men frequently glamorize depictions of violence, gambling, and addiction. They talk about very adult topics. All this anti-ass-cam politic operates under the guise of caring about “ethics” and saving “the children,” but really, people aren’t concerned with making Twitch PG-13. All these people really care about is the fact that women on Twitch are making money. They hate to see the platform become more thotty — because they can’t win at that game.

But for most of you out there, I think you can join me in giving Morgpie a round of applause. She deserves awards, accolades, flowers even. Even if Twitch implemented a Catholic-school-level dress code, Morgpie would no doubt find a way to go viral for doing something funny. 

As one onlooker aptly put it, “Morgpie is just gonna come back with something even crazier.” Morgpie, props to you. I hope you keep getting your bag. ????

– Grace Stanley, Deputy Editor

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