While there are plenty of popular streamers on YouTube for gaming and other topics, there is a subset of streamers known as Virtual YouTubers. These streamers use FaceRig or similar software to stream as a fictional character while chatting with viewers, playing games, and doing other activities.

One of the biggest agencies for Virtual Youtubers is Hololive Production, which is owned by COVER Corp. Under Hololive, there are many different streamers with their own unique characters, including a character who goes by Kiryu Coco. While most streamers under Hololive get good viewership numbers and accrue fanbases, working with the agency can lead to problems.

RELATED: Big International Twitch Streamer Banned for Inappropriate Comments at Women

In a recent livestream Kiryu Coco, one of the members of Hololive's fourth generation of streamers, and another Hololive YouTuber named Akai Haato discussed their YouTube analytics. This led them to talking about what countries they have the most viewership from, and when going through everything it was mentioned that 7 percent of their viewers were from the country of Taiwan.

Hololive Streamers

After this stream, it was announced that Coco and Haato would be suspended from streaming for three weeks due to the content presented. According to COVER Corp., the ban was due to both divulging confidential analytic information and making comments that were "insensitive to residents of certain regions."

Kiryu Coco is known in the Virtual YouTuber community for her crude speech and sense of humor. She got her start in late December 2019, and her personality led her to rapidly gain subscribers in a short amount of time. Thanks to Coco speaking both English and Japanese, she has a prominent fanbase in various countries, and her viewers span all around the world.

The reason why mentioning Taiwan as its own country can be controversial for certain companies is due to China not viewing Taiwan as its own independent nation. As Hololive has a branch of Chinese Virtual Streamers on the Chinese Bilibili, it's likely the company wanted to protect its standing to continue operating in China. On Bilibili, Hololive has put out an additional statement for Chinese viewers about how they "respect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity." The official statement also says that Hololive "firmly supports the one-China principle."

Many of Coco's viewers are upset about this suspension and have expressed on social media that they believe neither Virtual YouTuber did anything wrong. Coco put out an official apology on Twitter, but some are suspicious that this was forced by Hololive.

MORE: Leafy Suspended from Twitch After Leaving YouTube for a Different Ban

Sources: HITC, COVER Corp., Twitter