Is it against Twitch TOS or Developer Agreement to scrap IRC messages?

[dennosity]

I want to train a chat bot to be able detect inappropriate Twitch messages for non-commercial use

To do so I would need to scrap chat messages using the IRC-like message interface from channels that I am not affiliated with.

I believe I comply with IV. Data Policy if I anonymize usernames and use the trained model to enhance streamer experience by detecting unwanted messages. I believe I’m also in compliance with 10. Prohibited Conduct xi. by utilizing the IRC interface provided by Twitch, thereby not attempting to bypass any measure.

I’d rather be safe than sorry, so I wanted to pose this question to a TwitchDev Admin. Is it against Twitch TOS or Developer Agreement to scrap IRC messages?

[Dist]

First off, keep in mind the join limits being decreased down to 100 https://discuss.dev.twitch.com/t/giving-broadcasters-control-concurrent-join-limits-for-irc-and-eventsub/54997. So legal aside for a moment, you’d be limited to 100 channels (and likely violating the Twitch Developer Agreement and/or ToS if you try to circumvent them) so you’d be very limited in scale.

Secondly, even if you anonymize the usernames, the content of the message itself may contain PII. Or if a person wishes to have their data removed from your service (as you do not own the rights to the chat message content) that would be very difficult if you’re scraping data without a channels/users consent.

Thirdly, this could fall under “Research - educational and non-commercial projects that examine trends over specific time periods” of the Developer Agreement, something which states Twitch will consider authorizing you to use the Twitch APIs to engage in the following activities only after entering into a separate agreement and running through an approval process:. So you’d likely require reaching out to developers@twitch.tv or legal@twitch.tv to get their explicit approval and agreement.

Finally, you should consult with your own legal expert. We’re not lawyers on this forum, and it’s likely none of the Twitch staff on this forum are from the legal department who would dispense legal advice here.