President Donald Trump receives a temporary ban from Twitch. The live streaming company created this high-profile suspension, citing “hateful conduct.” In their statement, Twitch declared that Trump’s account was found guilty of having “offending content.”
The Verge reported that one of the streams that caused the suspension came from one of Trump’s rally in which he claimed that Mexico is sending criminals to the United States. The recent rally in Tulsa was also flagged for some of the questionable comments.
A Twitch spokesperson said that, “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.” This statement was issued last year when the president’s channel was aired.Â
A week after Twitch announced its “crackdown on harassment within the community,” the president’s channel was suspended. Twitch is actively starting to moderate streams thoroughly. The content the president’s channel contained, labeled as “offending content” was tolerated due to his position. As he is both the president of the country and a politician, his channel was not moderated the same way as the other streamers. These actions are now heavily censored to the point of suspension.Â
Last week, Twitch said that they are going to issue permanent bans with allegations. Dr. Disrespect, one of the site’s leading streamers, was recently banned from the platform. Twitch declined to respond to Dr. Disrespect’s ban as there were no public allegations against the streamer. Even Dr. Disrespect was shocked, saying he was not informed as to why his channel disappeared.Â
The president’s channel launched in October and has since then be used to broadcast rallies and campaign events.