New Twitch trend with scantily clad ‘influencers’ seductively licking microphones and ears on the kid-friendly platform
Popular gaming platform Twitch has been told by online child safety experts to crack down on a new wave of content featuring porn stars seductively licking microphones in their bras.
Twitch is mainly used for watching videos of other people playing games. Every month, 31 million Americans log in, a quarter of whom are between the ages of 16 and 24.
But now content creators are increasingly hitting the platform in hopes of luring viewers for alternative and more explicit content.
Now, instead of video games and esports, sexualized “ear licking” live streams are being posted all over the platform, in which scantily clad women lick, rub and breathe into microphones as the audience watches and listens.
The content is categorized as ‘ASMR’ — or autonomic sensory meridian response, a tingling sensation throughout the body usually caused by sounds such as whispering, tapping, or brushing.
Videos tagged as ASMR attract millions of viewers, with hundreds of streams available on the platform.
Sexualized videos show scantily clad women, like the one above, licking microphones
The women post videos with titles like ‘obey your queen’ and ‘cozy girlfriend hugs’
Critics, such as child safety groups and parents, say Twitch puts children at risk by exposing them to “inappropriate” and “sexual” content at a young age.
Explicit videos posted on the platform, with titles such as “Obey your Queen!” and “cozy girlfriend hugs”—showing women wearing scant clothing as they make suggestive gestures on microphones, some of which are shaped like human ears.
Their profiles link to OnlyFans and Patreon accounts — websites known for their adult content — with a plan costing as little as $3.50 per month. Videos there have titles including ‘I will hit you. Get on your knees’ and ‘let the maid please you’.
A spokeswoman for online child safety organization Bark US — which gives Twitch two stars out of five for child safety — called on Twitch to clean up its behavior, saying they were “not fans” of the platform’s content.
“Overall, the potential for toxic interactions on Twitch is too high and outweighs the benefits of watching video games, as fun as it may be,” they said.
“Apart from the violent video games streamers can play on Twitch (of which there are many), the biggest danger to children is inappropriate content.”
They added, “Profanity, sexual content, derogatory terms and much more are possible in both the on-screen text chat and verbally by the streamer.”
Bark US also offers a paid platform to help parents prevent their child from visiting potentially unsafe websites online.
The NSPCC – a child safety organization in the UK – also expresses concern about Twitch, warning that there are ‘no safety settings that prevent children and young people from accessing certain channels or chats’.
ASMR is a term coined in 2010 by cybersecurity expert Jennifer Allen that has since spread quickly online.
Proponents claim that the tingling sensation associated with the triggers can induce relaxation, relieve stress, and improve focus — despite there being little scientific evidence to support these claims. In 2019, only ten studies of the practice had been carried out.
However, on Twitch, the term seems to have been taken to mean women licking ear-shaped microphones while wearing very little clothing.
One of the top creators, who goes by the username SharonQueen and has over 500,000 followers, posts videos every day with titles like “obey your Queen!” and ‘look me in the eye!’.
Clicking on links in her profile reveal other links that connect to her OnlyFans and Patreon accounts – with the titles surrounded by squirting water emojis to indicate explicit content.
Navigating from Twitch to her Patreon profile — via a third website — reveals videos with titles like “take it all off?”, “give me the sexiest kiss you can, my lips are waiting,” and “I’ll SPANK you.” On your knees’.
Another creator named AkuASMR, who has a similar following, posts videos of her wearing only a sports bra and shorts and dressing up as characters including Asuna, a gym leader in Pokemon, and a scantily clad nun.
A visit to her profile also reveals a link to a website that directs users to two OnlyFans accounts – one of which is free – and a Patreon account where users can pay just $3.50 per month to subscribe to her content .
Those who click on it will initially see this warning, but they can click past it without confirming their age. There is also a warning on the video while it is playing, although it may not be heeded
Reactions to the video, shown above, are posted live and include “lovely like you”
Viewers also said “feels great man” on one of the videos
A third user, who goes by the name of FozenKin, also posts explicit videos showing her top and a lace bra.
The videos have titles like “bring it on, baby” and “tingling braingasm time.”
Comments on the explicit videos include “feels great man,” “lovely like you,” and “just enjoy your rest madly.”
On its website, Amazon-owned Twitch says users must be at least 13 years old to use the platform. It also states that persons between the ages of 13 and 18 may only use the website under the supervision of a parent or guardian.
But when DailyMail.com visited the website, there were no attempts to verify age.
The explicit content was discovered within minutes of clicking “Browse” and then the “IRL” tag (meaning “In real life”) on the homepage.
When the explicit videos were clicked, a page appeared warning that the video was “intended for a specific audience.”
However, a user only needs to click on ‘start watching’ to proceed to the content. No age verification is requested.
Twitch first came under fire in 2019 after it was found to be hosting pornography on one of its star streamer pages.
The platform apologized when the videos were brought to its attention, saying they had “permanently suspended” the account in question.
They came under fire again last year when a Bloomberg research report found that nearly 300,000 children on the platform were targeted by child predators between October 2020 and August 2022.
Shortly after the report was published, the platform was accused of making “no attempt” to resolve the issues raised.
Twitch told DailyMail.com: “Just to be clear, sexually explicit content is not allowed on Twitch and direct links to sexually explicit content also violate our rules.
‘Our content rating guidelines require certain types of content to be clearly labeled and require explicit consent from users before viewing.
“Streams with sexual themes, for example, are kept behind a warning screen, which a viewer must acknowledge and click through to view the content.”
They added that children under the age of 13 are not allowed to use the platform and that it employs an “aggressive” algorithm to find and remove accounts that violate these policies.