Twitch has temporarily banned President Donald Trump, in the latest surprise and high-profile suspension from the streaming service. Trump’s account was banned for “hateful conduct” that was aired on stream, and Twitch says the offending content has now been removed.
One of the streams in question was a rebroadcast of Trump’s infamous kickoff rally, where he said that Mexico was sending rapists to the United States. Twitch also flagged racist comments at Trump’s recent rally in Tulsa.
“Like anyone else, politicians on Twitch must adhere to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. We do not make exceptions for political or newsworthy content, and will take action on content reported to us that violates our rules,” a Twitch spokesperson told The Verge. The statement was originally issued last year when Trump’s channel was launched.
The suspension arrives a week after Twitch swore it would crack down on harassment within the community following reports of assault and harassment from streamers. It’s a sign that Twitch may be starting to take moderating streams a lot more seriously. The racist language it banned Trump for is often allowed on other platforms due to his role as a politician and president of the United States.
Twitch said last week that it would begin issuing permanent bans to streamers in response to the allegations coming out. The first major ban that came down appears to be on Dr Disrespect, one of the site’s most popular streamers. Twitch has repeatedly declined to confirm why (or even whether) Dr Disrespect was banned — there were not public allegations against him — and the streamer has said he has not been told why his channel disappeared.
The Trump campaign launched its Twitch page in October. The campaign appeared to use the page for broadcasting rallies and campaign events. The Verge has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
Just minutes before Twitch suspended Trump, Reddit said it had banned a number of subreddits for harassment, including r/The_Donald. The subreddit is not directly affiliated with the president, as the Twitch channel is.
Comments
Good riddance? Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Hopefully temp turns into permanent.
Can’t wait for apologists in this thread saying but what about titty streamers? Who cares? At least they don’t spread nazi white supremacy agenda.
I’ve been saying this for too long gaming as a community has been ruined by toxic overgrown children and it does not need another idiot pushing his nazi conspiracy theory filled agenda.
Sometimes it’s embarrassing to say that you enjoy playing video games in the professional circles because people associate video games with toxic culture…
By ksyndicate on 06.29.20 1:28pm
Titty streamers are fine. No one should be able to tell another person how they are allowed to use their own body.
It’s when a titty streamer has a bunch of 13 year old followers that it’s creepy as hell.
Can’t see what’s wrong with being against both the spread of the nazi white supremacy agenda and peddling soft-core porn to children.
By ahlam99 on 06.29.20 8:53pm
Good, nice to see. If they keep this up, it’ll keep the politicians away from them, which won’t be a bad thing for Twitch (in the long run).
By SasparillaFizz on 06.29.20 1:56pm
To be fair, they aren’t banning politicians, they’re banning people who incite violence, hatred, and social unrest.
By kalotro on 06.29.20 2:45pm
pog
By brad007 on 06.29.20 1:57pm
Trump will probably confused and ask his aids if he can launch a nuclear missile at Jack Dorsey’s house.
By NaeemTHM on 06.29.20 1:59pm
this comment just made me think "possible"
that man has fucked with my ability to detect sarcasm due to 10,000 ridiculous baseless tweets.
By JesseDegenerate on 06.29.20 3:04pm
You read all his Tweets? Maybe you should unfollow him…
By TroyRig on 06.29.20 5:07pm
i prefer to know what the idiot in chief says, but even i can’t follow all of it, he goes nuts
By JesseDegenerate on 06.29.20 5:22pm
No super duper missile
By ksyndicate on 06.29.20 4:57pm
Does… Trump even know how what Twitch is ? That he is still on any social media after retweeting that "white power" video is beyond me
By Paul_M on 06.29.20 2:14pm
nvm
By EnglishMike on 06.29.20 6:43pm
He’s on Twitch?
By thePhil907 on 06.29.20 2:38pm
I believe his campaign uses it to broadcast his Klan meetings.
By kalotro on 06.29.20 2:43pm
Be courageous. Make it permanent. He never changes.
By kalotro on 06.29.20 2:42pm
Wah wah wahhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
* * * Followed by a crescendo of Clapping* * *
By TheTruthØE on 06.29.20 2:52pm
So they immediately put out a press release about this, but they still refuse to say anything about why one of the top 10 streamers on their platform is permanently banned?
By tastyfarts on 06.29.20 2:55pm
Rofl like this even matters?
He doesn’t even have a stream anyways! Oh, so maybe he setup a single stream for a single day? Come on.
This is meaningless. This is saying, OK we ban all hateful types of people from this location. Except well, they never came here anyways.
By gommerthus on 06.29.20 3:22pm
Remember this day and your perceived victory. The fabric of this country was freedom of speech. You may not agree and be correct with the views that are banned but that’s how freedom’s get stripped one layer at a time, till they have total control.
Freedom comes with choices if I truly don’t agree with something I don’t look I mute, block, but I make the decision for MYSELF. When others start making the decisions it’s not if but when they will take away other freedoms.
If freedom of speech is taken away then dumb & silent we may be led, like sheep to slaughter..Washington
By WArr1979 on 06.29.20 3:57pm
Did Washington say anything about gay wedding cakes?
By jm9843 on 06.29.20 4:18pm
Freedom of speech has never meant that a private entity has to given you a platform. I can’t roll up to the local TV station, demand that they put me on the air and then claim they’re violating my right to free speech when they say no.
By Iamjason on 06.29.20 4:37pm
Lol this guy is mad at Inslee for mask rule. Freedom of speech has nothing to do with using private platform to spread hate speech.
By ksyndicate on 06.29.20 5:02pm
I have some revelatory advice for you: if you find them objectionable, disgusting, repressive, or unfair, don’t use Twitch or Reddit or whatever other platforms you don’t like. Join InfoWars. Post on the Fox News comment section.
No company has to allow vicious and hateful content just because it indulges your worst impulses and basest fears.
By kalotro on 06.29.20 6:22pm
The fabric of your country – the actual fabric, not some illusion based on the idea that Twitch is somehow a guardian of free speech – is destroyed. Every civilized country in the world now look down on the US as the richest third-world country. A country that has armed racists walking its streets, police strangling black people, a President that retweets "white power" videos, and that has been utterly unable to deal with a pandemic endured by the whole planet.
Get used to it: this is your country now. Nobody outside of the US as any respect or admiration for it. None of this is a "perceived victory". None of this is a victory. Every day this administration is in charge of anything has been a defeat for you, and the rest of the world. Now you can either choose to defend Trump having a Twitch channel, or you can pick a fight that actually matters. I’m getting tired of this.
By Paul_M on 06.29.20 6:23pm
Speaking as a Frankish king, I agree.
America makes past history look better for the wrong reasons.
By Clovis1 on 06.29.20 8:20pm