Twitch disables Trump’s channel until the end of his term to ‘minimize harm’ during transition
Following a slate of temporary and permanent bans from a number of the top online platforms, popular video streaming service Twitch today confirmed that it has disabled the president of the United States’ account. A spokesperson for the site told TechCrunch:
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.
Trump’s suspension is indefinite at this time. “We are focused on minimizing harm leading up to the transition of government and will reassess his account after he leaves office,” a Twitch spokesperson told TechCrunch.
Twitch also temporarily suspended the president’s channel in June. At the time, it told TechCrunch, “Hateful conduct is not allowed on Twitch. In line with our policies, President Trump’s channel has been issued a temporary suspension from Twitch for comments made on stream, and the offending content has been removed.”
On Wednesday, the company removed the “PogChamp” emote featuring the face of gaming figure Ryan Gutierrez after he expressed support for pro-Trump rioters.
Twitch’s actions follow similar measures taken by Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat, which over the course of the last day all placed new restrictions on the president’s account. Facebook also took the unprecedented step of suspending the president’s account for the remainder of his term, which ends on January 20.
The social platforms took action against the president’s accounts after he incited a group of his supporters in a riot at the Capitol. Trump encouraged a crowd to march toward Congress after a rally Wednesday in which the president again pushed false claims about a “stolen” election.
At the Capitol, the crowd swelled and easily overcame barriers put in place by police, flooding into the building and looting lawmakers’ offices, resulting in a number of injuries and four deaths. Lawmakers were inside the building at the time and were forced to evacuate, later reconvening to certify the election results.
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