Twitch is no stranger to wielding the ban-hammer, but whether the company swings it responsibly is an entirely other matter. While some accounts are understandably banned for breaking Twitch’s terms of service (TOS) beyond a shadow of reasonable doubt, the popular streaming platform has also garnered a reputation for handing out several loosely justified — if not unwarranted — bans since the service took off years ago.
That same sentiment rings true in 2021, where just eight months in, several high-profile streamers have been banned for reasons ranging from well-deserved to contentious, at best. Loosely defined rules, regulations, and Twitch’s poorly-handled copyright policy are among the leading causes of some of this year’s most notable bans.
Disguised Toast
Jeremy Wang, better known by his online handle Disguised Toast, was handed a ban last April for having “unmoderated hateful content” on his Twitch stream. However, the streamer wasn’t necessarily banned for anything he said or did, but rather for something he observed and listened to.
While Twitch generally doesn’t share specifics when it comes to its moderation practices, Disguised Toast has claimed the ban was punishment for watching an old PUBG clip of his where a random player — not the streamer himself — used a homophobic slur, much to Disguised Toast’s surprise. While Twitch may have tried to do something good through this ban by attempting to mitigate hate speech on the platform, the company seemingly went about it in an unnecessarily harsh way by persecuting a creator for what appears to be an honest mistake.
Amouranth
Kaitlyn “Amouranth” Siragusa received her latest ban almost two months ago. Amouranth is a fairly controversial figure in the Twitch community thanks to being one of the headlining hot tub streamers, but her only ban of 2021 thus far was due to her actions on an ASMR stream.
While it’s not quite known what the exact reasoning behind Amouranth’s three-day ban was, it’s believed to either have to do with the perceived sexual nature of her ASMR streams, which some streamers like Pokimane and Asmongold have previously voiced concern over.
Indiefoxx
Like Amouranth, Jenelle “Indiefoxx” Dagres is a well-known hot tub streamer turned ASMR broadcaster. However, unlike her neighboring creator, Indiefoxx has seen far more punishment from Twitch for her content. Within six months, Indiefoxx was banned six times — each for violating Twitch’s rules regarding sexual content during her streams.
Following her most recent ban in June 2021, Indiefoxx’s Twitch Partner status was revoked, and the streamer’s account appears to be indefinitely banned, having yet to be reinstated as of August 2021. It remains to be seen if the streamer will ever make a return to the platform, or if her ban could have lasting implications for how Twitch handles suggestive content going forward.
Bafael
This notable fighting game streamer was banned by both Twitch and YouTube following a three-year-old video of the streamer playing on a private server for the MMORPG MapleStory resurfacing. As bizarre as this may sound, private servers for MapleStory are illegal, as they infringe upon publisher Nexon’s copyright.
Bafael’s ban likely had to do with a DMCA violation, but Twitch’s decision to outright ban the streamer seems a little severe for a copyright claim that didn’t occur until years after the infringing content was published. Furthermore, it’s worth noting that this ban came in the wake of Twitch announcing a “three-strike rule” for copyright infringement, which should have, theoretically, granted Bafael leniency in this matter, but evidently did not.
xQc
Felix “xQc” Lengyel is among Twitch’s biggest streamers, but his latest ban showcased that even the platform’s major players aren’t immune to the dreaded DMCA claim. Just last month, the former Overwatch League Pro was banned for about five hours after watching highlights of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics on stream.
xQc’s ban was far from an isolated incident. Several other similar suspensions were handed out thanks to the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) liberal use of DMCA claims during the Olympics. However, while most would likely, and understandably, concede to such a powerful organization, xQc has opted to stand his ground in this matter, going as far as to issue a counter-claim defending his use of the Olympic footage as fair use.