Summary
Update 20:30 BST:Updated to include Twitch’s response to TheGamer.
Former US president Donald Trump is no longer banned onTwitch. Unexpectedly and without an announcement, Twitch has reversed the ban on Trump’s account, DonaldTrump, afterremoving it from the site in January 2021.
This was just spotted by the tracking site Streaming Bans. This comes after a ban that lasted three years and five months, with the reversal coming several months before Trump stands in the US presidential election, and just after hissurvived assassination attempt.
Donald Trump Is Back On Twitch
In response to TheGamer, Twitch confirmed that it has decided to unban Donald Trump, providing the same statement it had given to reporterRod Breslau.
“We reinstated former President Trump’s Twitch channel,” says a Twitch representative. “We believe there is value in hearing from Presidential nominees directly, when possible. Trump is now the official Republican nominee for US president.”
“We continue to enforce our Community Guidelines and take necessary enforcement action when we identify violations of our rules. Twitch doesn’t have a ‘public figure policy,’ meaning all channels are equally subject to our guidelines, regardless of whether the channel belongs to a public figure.”
By the time Trump was banned in January 2021, he had ceased being the Republican nominee, having lost his 2020 reelection campaign. However, after spreading conspiracy theories about voter fraud, the former president’s supporters raided the Capitol Building in a bid to prevent Joe Biden’s victory from being formally recognised. Nine deaths are attributed to the attack.
In response to Trump’s encouragement of the attack, many social media platforms banned his accounts. This included Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitch. At the time, Twitch said that the ban was put in place to “protect [Twitch’s] community” and “prevent Twitch from being used to incite further violence.”
The Trump team has yet to update his Twitch account, as it still uses graphics from his 2020 campaign. It’s unclear if the team specifically asked Twitch to reinstate the account, or if the company took it upon itself to reverse the ban.
Twitch
Twitch is one of the most popular livestreaming services available, and it offers a variety of content, from music to gaming to cooking.
