Popular Twitch Streamer Sues Company Over Permanent Ban
A banned Twitch streamer is now back and suing the company.
This article is more than 2 years old
Popular Twitch streamer Dr. Disrespect is now suing the company over a permanent ban issued in June of last year over alleged abuse of Twitch’s Terms of Use. Dr. Disrespect firmly believes that the ban issued has no justifications, and while he isn’t looking to come back on Twitch, he’s suing for damages done to him by the streaming platform.
According to IGN, Dr. Disrespect announced on his YouTube channel that he’s suing the company because of why he was banned. This implies that he learned the reason behind his removal from the streaming platform – something Twitch isn’t keen on sharing. For the uninformed, Dr. Disrespect, known by family and friends as Herschel Beahm IV, was famously banned from Twitch in June 2020 for reasons undisclosed to the streamer or his viewership. But apparently, he learned the cause and believes it gives him ground for legal action.
Dr. Disrespect didn’t reveal the newly-discovered reason why he was banned, and Twitch doesn’t usually publicize its reasoning for bans. Instead, the company takes whatever action it deems appropriate when it has evidence of streamers violating Community Guidelines or Terms of Service. As per Twitch’s statement, these actions apply to all streamers regardless of their status or prominence in the community – a statement that proves false as the days go by. Nonetheless, Dr. Disrespect said that “there’s a reason why we’re suing the f**k out of them,” referring to the streaming platform.
Admittedly, the streamer was reluctant and highly evasive about the issue of his removal from Twitch, refusing to answer questions on the subject when speaking to media. Shortly before the ban, he publicly said some misguiding coronavirus information, quoting several conspiracy theorists. However, he attempted to deny that those quotations have any relevance to the ban before his PR handler cut him off, for whatever reason. Beahm returned to streaming a month later, now on YouTube, where he amassed a subscriber base of 3.4 million – a following which the controversy might’ve boosted. Still, he disclosed that he’s making only a quarter of his Twitch earnings.
He did reveal some information regarding the Twitch ban, mostly from financial and networking standpoints, stating that the ban affected his sponsorship deals with Activision and EA Games and that he’s having trouble getting major sponsors, given that everyone questions his ban. But he believes that he has a case, whatever his argument might be. Of course, if Twitch manages to demonstrate that he violated their ToS, his arguments won’t hold much water. But if they fail to do so, it could prompt other, previously banned streamers to force the reasons behind their respective bans out in the open, challenging Twitch’s banning practices.
Those practices are already being discussed and disputed by the community, given how the company opened the door for NSFW streamers, which prompted criticism from the platform’s most prominent streaming figures. The same door that OnlyFans, a major NSFW platform, considered closing to recent backlash. Not to mention many other issues plaguing Twitch, like boycotts, undisclosed bans of millions of accounts, and immediate bans and content removal without previous warnings.
