Xbox moderators are actively banning people for lewd Baldur’s Gate 3 clips

It’s almost like auto-uploads being an opt-out system is a bad idea

Some players of Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox Series X|S have been banned from the platform’s online services after clipping lewd scenes from the RPG, which were then automatically uploaded into the cloud if they didn’t opt out of this auto-upload system beforehand.

Xbox has officially confirmed that its moderators are behind these punishments, as uploading sexual content and making it visible to other users violates the terms of service, even if it happens without people actively intending to do that.

“To provide clarity on Baldur's Gate 3 mature content enforcement actions, Xbox account suspensions are not automatic. Each clip is reviewed by a moderator and, if found in violation of our safety and content policies, actioned accordingly,” a statement on social media said.

This shot is still safe... probably / Larian Studios

It continued: “Our team evaluates appeals and can reverse suspensions if action was taken in error. If this was a first offense, for example, we will remove the suspension and let players know why it happened and how to avoid future issues (e.g. how to turn off auto-upload when sensitive content is being captured).”

Xbox support recommends players to turn off auto-uploads to avoid getting banned, if they want to clip explicit content, linking players to a guide on the official website.

This entire affair really goes to show that implementing an auto-upload system that shows one’s clips to the public as an opt-out feature was not the brightest idea of all time in the first place. It’s very simple: Don’t sign people up to stuff they may not want or need. Don’t automatically make a clip one takes public.

Microsoft could also take note of some measures implemented on other platforms to avoid this kind of thing. Steam, to name one example, automatically hides any footage captured in games that are rated 18+ or M (or whatever the equivalent rating is in any specific region), even if you usually allow the platform to show your screenshots to friends. You can even hide that you own specific games on Steam now.

Being banned by Xbox means that users can’t play games requiring a network connection for the duration of the punishment, which is obviously going to be crippling for most players. Receiving a ban without any warning for something you had no knowledge of doing – yeah, that’s going to get people upset.

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