Pokimane Banned From Twitch After DMCA Strike

By Logan Moore

Imane "Pokimane" Anys, who has long been one of the biggest streamers on Twitch, has now been banned from the platform. The decision from Twitch to ban one of its most notable streamers comes after Pokimane opted to test out the new "meta" on the site, which simply involves watching TV shows. As you might expect, this is something that goes against the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), meaning that Pokimane now has to be momentarily booted from the site. 

Within the past day, Pokimane was hosting a 10-hour live stream on her Twitch channel where she and her viewers were watching episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The stream itself that was showing these episodes of Avatar had been mirrored so that any potential copyright strikes could potentially be avoided. Of course, this didn't end up working out, which led to Pokimane being banned from Twitch later in the evening. As of this writing, her Twitch channel remains entirely down, meaning that if you try to navigate to it, you'll just find a blank page.  

As for the nature of this ban, Pokimane herself has already confirmed that it won't be a long one. Following her removal from Twitch, she tweeted to inform her fans that she'll be able to return in merely 48-hours. This means that tomorrow on Sunday, January 9, she'll be free to stream again. When this ban is lifted, Pokimane said she also intends to have a "comeback stream" that will start on Monday morning. This stream is one that she plans to have last for 12-hours, but she hasn't yet said what she'll be doing during the broadcast.

As a whole, this new Twitch "meta" is one that many streamers are divided on. Fellow Twitch star Cohh Carnage has recently made his own feelings on the meta quite clear and has said that it will only lead to bad things. "Poki plays off the two day ban and promotes her return stream with a smile," he said on Twitter. "They're speedrunning getting this site in incredibly hot water."

What do you think about Pokimane getting briefly banned from Twitch? And do you think that this latest "meta" on Twitch is only bad for the platform in the long run? Let me know either down in the comments or hit me up on Twitter at @MooreMan12.

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