Twitch’s Moderation Uproar!
The massive video game streaming platform Twitch is receiving backlash from its community after star streamer gets away with breaking the community guidelines. Tfue, one of Twitch’s biggest streamers, used a racial slur while broadcasting and has received no suspension or ban for his actions. While, Tfue himself has apologized and spoke on the matter, Twitch has yet to comment or acknowledge this incident. Content creators and fans alike have made an uproar about this incident. Claiming the platform favors larger channels and has no consistency with its moderation.
Twitch has temporarily banned its heavy hitters before. However, larger channels such as Dr. Disrespect have received suspensions for what the Twitch community thinks is far less serious offenses. In June Disrespect streamed his adventures at the gaming convention know as E3, Disrespect kept his camera rolling as he entered a public bathroom to use the sink and mirror, which resulted in his temporary ban. Fans thought it was silly but were somewhat accepting of the ban at the time. But after Tfue got away with this PR disaster, the twitch community has rallied around the idea that Disrespect’s offense was far less serious.
Another side to the argument lies in how Twitch enforces the guidelines on smaller channels compared to the larger, more popular ones. A popular example of this is when streamer Forsale18, a new up and coming streamer, was banned for three days for no real reason. Forsale18 claimed Twitch was very unclear at first of why he was banned, but then learned it is because he was using his emotes too much. Fans believe Forsale18 did not use his emotes any more or less than any other streamer. It was more likely a viewer did not like the emote and reported to troll the streamer. But, a troll simply reporting a large streamer for emote use would definitely not result in a temporary ban like it did for this small creator. After this incident, and several other questionable bans, the hashtag “#TwitchIsOverParty” started trending on Twitter.
Forsale18’s ban was just an unfortunate event that proves Twitch’s moderation system and team are flawed. However, it is understandable that Dr Disrespect received his temporary ban due to the fact that he technically broke a California law, where the E3 convention was located, by bringing a camera into a public bathroom. It does sound silly, but Twitch has to respond to actual laws being broke.
Twitch’s content creators and viewers are definitely correct when saying there is an unfair playing field when it comes to moderating small and large channels. Large channels often get much more room to work with when it comes to the guidelines. That is not to say large channels do not face consequences at all, like Dr Disrespect, but what happened to Forsale18 would never happen to a large channel. Twitch needs to be consistent when it comes to their moderation. Handing out less suspensions is not the answer, it is giving everyone the same level of respect and responsibility on the platform.
As for Tfue, it is unacceptable that Twitch has yet to even comment on the situation when the creator has himself. As a society, there is no room to for that kind of bigotry, especially when it is broadcasted to younger viewers. Twitch needs to step up and give Tfue some consequences for his actions just like everyone else. Until Twitch has consistency in their moderation, the platform will be flawed.
