Twitch indefinitely bans Donald Trump, removes his account

Amazon-owned live streaming platform Twitch has imposed an indefinite ban on former US President Donald Trump’s account over an “ongoing risk of further incitement of violence” after the Capitol attack earlier this month. The move comes a couple of weeks after the platform suspended Trump’s account barring him from posting from anything.

"The President’s statements continue to be interpreted as calls to action, and we are taking this action to remove the potential for harm to our community and the general public," a Twitch spokesperson told FOX Business in a statement.

"Twitch has clear rules that prohibit hateful conduct, harassment, or incitement of violence on our service, and we consider off-service events when making enforcement decisions. However, the events of the past weeks have highlighted a gap with respect to rhetoric that encourages violence, regardless of whether or not it was directly streamed on Twitch. We will be updating our policies as a result of our consideration of this situation,” the statement added.

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According to the report, Twitch’s policy bars Trump from appealing the decision or set up a new account until the platform lifts the suspension.

It is worth noting that Twitch is not alone in blocking Trump’s social media accounts. Earlier, the likes of Twitter, Snapchat, Shopify, Facebook and YouTube imposed a similar ban on the former US president in the wake of the Capitol violence. Back in June 2020, Twitch had imposed a temporary ban on Trump’s account for broadcasting “hateful conduct.”

According to a Forbes report, politicians have begun to explore gaming platforms as another medium to reach younger audiences. In October 2020, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar live streamed playing Among US on Twitch that drew about 700,000 viewers. Biden’s campaign managers also leveraged the popular games such as Nintendo’s Animal Crossing to reach the masses, the report added.