Following the shameful events of this past week in Washington D.C. during which an outgoing U.S. president urged supporters to storm the Capitol, many social media sites have moved to block Donald Trump from using their platforms, however temporarily. Both Twitter and Facebook have suspended his accounts, at least for the time being, and now we have another more in our purview that has joined this movement: Twitch.
The games streaming platform suspended Trump’s account indefinitely, saying, “In light of yesterday’s shocking attack on the Capitol, we have disabled President Trump’s Twitch channel. Given the current extraordinary circumstances and the President’s incendiary rhetoric, we believe this is a necessary step to protect our community and prevent Twitch from being used to incite further violence. We are focused on minimizing harm leading up to the transition of government and will reassess his account after he leaves office.”
This is in line with the company’s current policy against being used as a platform for hatred and violence. Late in 2020, Twitch made some specific policy changes to reduce the number of attacks and abuse between streamers and the community. These changes including banning the Confederate flag and certain emotes.
According to Gamasutra, this isn’t even the first time he’s been suspended; Twitch blocked his account this past summer for hateful conduct. “We do not make exceptions for political or newsworthy content, and will take action on content reported to us that violates our rules,” the company said at the time.
