There is no denying that Twitch has been at the center of a few controversies this year. Not only have they been called out for their inaction over a streamer abusing an animal during a livestream, but they’ve also been seen as acting petty after popular stream Tyler “Ninja” Blevins left the platform to exclusively stream on competing platform Mixer. The company’s process for banning has definitely been in question for some time, and a recent instance that involved a streamer searching for the term “baby powder” online is no exception as they were banned following what happened.
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Polish streamer “h2_gucio” was watching some infomercials with his audience on August 26th when one popped up that mentioned baby powder. As English is not the streamer’s first language, he chose to search online to see exactly what baby powder was. While it wasn’t the initial search that led to his ban, it was what happened after that.
Upon landing on the Wikipedia page for baby powder, h2_gucio clicked on an image that showed what a baby’s bottom looks like with diaper rash. It is believed that this is what led to the streamer being banned, despite it being on screen for roughly one second before he screamed and closed it. However, no matter the reason, as of August 28th, h2_gucio is no longer banned, per a post on his Facebook page.
As stated above, this isn’t the first time that Twitch’s banning practices have been called into question. A recent case of a streamer who was breastfeeding on stream was the center of a controversy, which resulted in Twitch confirming that breastfeeding is not against their terms of service. Another notable instance was when popular streamer xQc, who is no stranger to controversy himself, watched a video that contained one frame that showed a piece of a penis. Twitch overturned his ban the next day.
Needless to say, Twitch isn’t perfect when it comes to disciplining streamers. Then again, that much was abundantly clear after someone broke the law live on stream and was given a two-week vacation. Only time will tell if things improve, or if other streamers will begin to follow in Ninja’s footsteps.
What do you think about all of this? Do you believe Twitch has some work to do when it comes to their banning practices? Sound off in the comment section below!
[H/t Dexerto]
