Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
It would appear that not even United States President Donald Trump is exempt from Twitch’s hardcore initiative to crack down on harassment, abuse, and hateful content in all forms. In a surprise twist, Donald Trump’s Twitch has been temporarily banned for hateful conduct from previous streams and events.
It was discovered that Donald Trump’s official Twitch channel was suspended on June 29, 2020, as reported by CNBC. The reason for Donald Trump’s ban seems to have been "hateful conduct," with Twitch reportedly pointing to two specific instances. The first was recent rebroadcast of a 2016 campaign rally in which Trump targeted Mexican immigrants, claiming that the country was sending rapists, drug dealers, and other criminals across the border. The second was from from Trump’s more recent June 20, 2020 Tulsa event in which he argued for continued police force by describing a fictional scenario in which a “tough hombre” breaks into a “young woman’s” home.
“Hateful conduct is not allowed on Twitch,” a Twitch spokesperson said. “In line with our policies, President Trump’s channel has been issued a temporary suspension from Twitch for comments made on stream, and the offending content has been removed.”
While hateful conduct has always been part of guidelines on Twitch, Trump has arguably skirted the rules (considering the fact of the 2016 event and its rebroadcast as one of the reasons for the suspension). Even so, Twitch has recently and fervently put forth a new initiative to crack down on abusive, harassing, or hateful streamers and content in the wake of many victims coming forth with stories of their abuse. Before Trump, livestream personality Guy “Dr DisRespect” Beahm took a permanent banhammer, though the official details on Doc's ban are still unknown at the time of this writing.
With Donald Trump’s tendency to explode at the curtailing of his more extreme lies and vitriol, it will remain to be seen if he takes the suspension and content removal with grace. Either way, Twitch has seemingly put the rest of the field on notice. No one is exempt from breaking the rules in this new initiative - not even the President of the United States.