The entire Twitch community has had a chaotic few weeks. With many Twitch streamers hit by DMCA takedown requests for different clips, there are those worried for their future on the platform.
Amid these DMCA takedowns, Twitch is still cracking down on streamers who are violating other Terms of Service guidelines. However, as seen in one instance with a smaller streamer who went by the username Pajja, Twitch sometimes bans users erroneously and comes around to reverse the decision.
The streamer now goes by pavlle_, and the reason for their original ban was apparently due to the previous username being deemed inappropriate by Twitch. Pavlle_’s previous username “Pajja_” is close to a colloquial Spanish term that could be deemed offensive by those who read it as such. However, according to Pavlle_’s Twitch bio he is Serbian, and as a result was left thoroughly confused upon seeing the mysterious and abrupt ban by Twitch.
After receiving the email notifying them of the ban, Pavlle_ took to Twitter to let his followers know about the situation and ask Twitch Support for help. They were banned in October and received no response from Twitch Support, or any feedback on the support ticket he issued until November 6. That day, a post explaining his situation gained a lot of traction on the r/LiveStreamFails subreddit, and shortly thereafter Pavlle_’s Twitch channel was unbanned. Whether Pavlle_ was unbanned on Twitch because the story gained traction on Reddit, or because Twitch manually reviewed his claim around the same time remains unclear.
Millions of users are active on Twitch every day, watching streamers who produce content that the site hosts. Some of those streamers may end up getting banned from Twitch for a number of Terms of Service violations, such as harassment or misconduct. High-profile cases such as Dr Disrespect's recent Twitch ban controversy often get the most attention, but there are smaller streamers who get banned from the platform as well.
Pavlle_ has since changed his username to avoid any further misunderstandings from Twitch. Regardless of the reasons Twitch ubanned Pavlle_, it’s good to see the streamer was able to get his channel back at the end of the day. Twitch has unfortunately been rubbing many streamers and viewers the wrong way as of late, with issues involving DMCAs and the Ad-Block PSA that Twitch is currently running. Hopefully, Twitch is able to smooth out the growing discourse surrounding its streaming platform soon.