The Internet’s permanence is an illusion, as evidenced by Twitch’s recent announcement. On Wednesday, the platform revealed plans to introduce new restrictions on archived video Highlights and Uploads stored on user accounts. As of April 19, 2025, a 100-hour storage limit will be imposed on saved videos.

Accounts exceeding this limit must manually remove highlights and uploads, including unpublished content, or face automatic deletion by Twitch. The company explained that it will delete content with the fewest views until the account is within the limit.

Twitch cited financial considerations as the motivation behind this change, stating that storing this content is costly. By reducing saved Highlights and Uploads, the company aims to manage resources more efficiently and invest in new features. The streaming service acknowledged that the storage of content is a significant expense, which is why it is implementing these measures to streamline its operations.

According to Twitch, only 0.5% of creators have surpassed the 100-hour storage limit. However, this still translates to a substantial amount of content that will be deleted, ultimately benefiting Twitch’s financial interests. Initially, Highlights were designed to enable creators to curate their best content and showcase their most notable moments.

Although Twitch claims that Highlights have not driven engagement as expected, The Verge notes that the speedrunning community has heavily relied on this feature to save record-breaking runs. SummoningSalt, a prominent YouTuber and creator of speedrunning documentaries, expressed his disappointment with Twitch’s decision, calling it a “really sad day for speedrunning.”

Another speedrunner, MrJimmysteel25, tweeted that for their community, highlights were never about discovery or engagement but rather about preserving history. The decision to limit storage has sparked concerns that years of speedrunning history will be lost.

While users can download and save their Highlights, this solution poses a local storage problem. The fact that Twitch has imposed this limit as a cost-saving measure raises concerns that further restrictions might be implemented in the future if the company needs to improve its financial performance. It is worth noting that Twitch is owned by Amazon, which operates the world’s largest cloud storage platform. This serves as a reminder that when history is entrusted to a corporation, its preservation is often tied to the company’s ability to monetize it.