Twitch Badges, YouTube Blurred Thumbnails, DrLupo Cheated in Chess, and Ironmouse Speaks to Congress

Hello and welcome to the recap!

I'm keeping things short and sweet this week, so let's jump into the news!

🟪TWITCH

• Twitch Combos are now in early public testing. It looks like this in chat, how it appears on pages, and the emotes used.
• Their public listing shows Twitchcon Rotterdam 2025 will have 25 exhibitors and sponsors, plus Twitch-operated booths and Artist Alley. Rotterdam 2024 had around 42 exhibitors and sponsors.
• To encourage sales, Twitchcon now offers referral badges.
• As of this weekend, ISPs blocked Twitch in all of Spain due to LaLiga's attempt to stop piracy.
• Twitch's legal documentation removed the ability to search.

🟥 YOUTUBE

• YouTube is testing Blurred Thumbnails on mature content when using search.
• YouTube has renewed its position as the title sponsor of VidCon.
• An update to sensitive ads will remove Video Games from the designation.

⬛ TIKTOK

• TikTok claims Live creators are collectively earning $10M per day. This feels like a loaded stat that requires context they haven't given.
• TikTok is once again inviting creators to its Live Creator Community Discord.
• The European Union fined TikTok 530M euros for sending user data to China.
• TikTok has moved into second place in the streaming wars, as Twitch's growth has stagnated.
• Only 1% of time is spent on TikTok on the Friend tab.

🟦 DISCORD & TWITTER X

• Discord is adding the ability for server members to report messages to server admins natively.
• Discord added a Star Wars collection of profile cosmetics.
• You'll soon be able to control Discord voice note playback speed.
• TwitterX has lost 10% of its users in Europe.
• TwitterX is rolling out support for 4K video.

🔲 OTHERS

• Kick now offers a Status Page to verify uptime and downtime.