This Twitch extension has an abysmal ToS

This Twitch extension is run by a serial scammer and cult leader. When you as a streamer add it to your channel, you agree that the company behind it can take your avatar and your emotes and use it to train AI. Let me explain. 

Note: This article based on my video on the topic.

https://youtu.be/uRHIBSzhDTM

VIP Hype Train is a Twitch extension released this year, which, during Twitch hype trains, can use AI to generate songs about your twitch channel. 

It grazed my periphery a couple days ago, when a friend of mine wanted to see if they could turn down the audio levels as a viewer on a stream they were watching. As I got curious and googled it, checking their website for a solution, I noticed it had a SUSPICOUSLY long Terms of Service for just being a Twitch extension. 

So, here’s the longer version. 

Going to the Terms of Service we can see that the extension is run by the company Naughty Cult Ltd. - a company based in the EU, specifically Bulgaria. 

A quick internet search gets me to this reddit post from some years ago, linking to publicly available information about the creation of said company:

Dries Albert G. Leysen is listed as the sole owner of Naughty Cult Ltd.

Who on earth is that, you may ask? 

Dries Leysen is a part of a cult that has been scamming people for over a decade.(Source: People Make Games) The cult is lead by Bachir Boumaaza, known under the name “Athene”, who used to be a famous World of Warcraft streamer. If you go to Leysen’s facebook page, you can see that he works directly under Boumaaza. 

All the way back in 2019, the games journalist Chris Bratt known under the channel name “People Make Games”, published his investigation into the streamer. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgNXJQ88lfk

Since then, Naughty Cult has run several schemes, from bitcoin to mobile games, and now that AI has been on the rise, this is the newest in his chain of AI-related schemes. 

I don’t have the energy to cover all the others, so for this video, I’m just gonna list them on screen and someone else can look into those.

For now, let’s take a look at the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy of VIP Hype Train, so see what they do with the data that they do have of you. I'll get to what data that is in a minute. 

“You grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, transmit, display and distribute publicly displayed content such as username, avatar and emotes that are provided by your third party service account (that you use to connect to Our Service) in applications, broadcasts, publications or promotions by Us that are related or unrelated to VIP Hype for Us to provide, promote and improve Our Services and to make this content available to other companies, organizations or individuals for the syndication, broadcast, distribution, promotion or publication on other media and services.”

Terms of Service | VIP Hype Train

I have read this several times and as I understand it, whatever data that you give them, in this case, username, avatar, and emotes on Twitch, they can just use for what they say is “applications, broadcasts, publications, or promotions by us that are related to or unrelated to VIP Hype”, which is where the catch is here. 

You could say, “well, of course, they need to use your data to do the AI thing that the the program does.”

But when they say “unrelated to VIP hype”, that's a red flag. 

So what I'm reading is they can use your avatar, your username, and your emotes to “provide, promote, and improve our services to make this content available to other companies, organizations, or individuals for the syndication...” - Again, unrelated to VIP hype. Hmm... 

Now, you might be wondering what other data might they collect when you install this extension on your Twitch channel. For that we can turn our eyes to their privacy policy. 

"After connecting with your account, the following data may be stored on our servers:

    • Your message history or transcript from your chat and call sessions 

    • The content and characters you have created or posted using the extension 

    • Your Dashboard preferences 

    • Twitch account information that is required for us to associate relevant viewer interactions such as subscriptions with your account 

    • Basic session logging details such as IP's and timestamps so that we can track and prevent potential abuse 

    • Avatars, nicknames and/or emotes publicly displayed by your Twitch account“

That seems excessive for a Twitch extension, right?

Additionally, you might wonder, how do they how do they keep that data secure? 

“We store personal information on secure servers that are managed by us and our service providers. These servers are protected by security and access controls as well as data encryption where possible and appropriate and are only accessible to limited, specific and qualified team members. ”

We know who runs the company. It's like, 2-3 people: Bachir Boumaaza / Athene and Dries Leysen

Oh right. And if you're someone who has already  used this extension, I am so sorry. 

I mean, this article is kind of for you. By using the Twitch extension, you agree to the terms of service, which also includes this caveat:

“You hereby agree to indemnify, defend and hold Us, and all Our officers, directors, owners, agents, employees, information providers, partners, affiliates, volunteers, licensors and licensees (collectively, the "Indemnified Parties") harmless from and against any and all liability and costs incurred by the Indemnified Parties in connection with any claim arising out of any breach by You of the Policy or the foregoing representations, warranties and covenants, including, without limitation, attorneys' fees and costs. You shall cooperate as fully as reasonably required in the defense of any claim.”

Hmmmmmmmm.

“BY INSTALLING, USING OR OTHERWISE ACCESSING THE SERVICE, YOU AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF SERVICE. YOU SHOULD NOT INSTALL, USE OR OTHERWISE ACCESS THE SERVICE IF YOU DO NOT AGREE. USE OF THE SERVICE IS VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.”

So, um I may not be a lawyer, but like this is bad, right? And if you've already spent money in this extension, I'm really sorry, but the terms of service also says,

"We may manage, regulate, control, modify, or eliminate virtual items at any time, with or without notice. We shall have no liability to you or any third party in the event that we exercise such rights.”

And they're also non-refundable, of course. 

(Following is taken from the transcript of the video.)

So, I kind of put this together in a bit of a rush because I saw a friend of a friend using the Twitch extension on their own stream. So, I didn't really write a conclusion. 

All I want to say is go read the terms of service for yourself to make an informed decision. If you already have this Twitch extension installed, I really encourage you to go read what you've signed up for. 

If The Naughty Cult decides to change the website or it goes down, you 

can find a snapshot of the terms of service and the privacy policy in the Sautero database, which is linked in the description below the video.

I'm not really a lawyer, so I'd say take all of this with a grain of salt and read the terms of service and privacy policy yourself. if you have considered using this Twitch extension or already are using this Twitch extension especially. 

And since I'm only threading waters in sort of the “tip of an iceberg”, just know that this is not all of it. 

Sources: 

https://www.zotero.org/groups/5317067/atlascdy/collections/62NSXSJM/collection