Following the wave of recent accusations of sexual abuse against popular Twitch streamers last weekend, the livestreaming platform has begun banning some of these accounts.
According to a Kotaku report and corroborated by Twitter account StreamerBans, several prominent streamers–including IamSp00n, Wolv21, BlessRNG, DreadedCone, and WarwitchTV–have been banned this week. Each one of these streamers has been accused of sexual abuse and harassment, ranging from sending sexually explicit messages to known minors to physically taking advantage of women at gaming conventions. [Update: In what appears to be an unrelated action, Twitch has seemingly banned DrDisrepect.]
The bans come not long after Twitch issued a statement about plans to thoroughly investigate each allegation. “We are reviewing each case that has come to light as quickly as possible while ensuring appropriate due diligence as we assess these serious allegations,” the statement read. “We’ve prioritized the most severe cases and will begin issuing permanent suspensions in line with our findings immediately.”
Twitch also said it remains committed to making the platform a safe environment for communities to congregate. “We’re also committed to continuing our efforts to make Twitch a safer environment with more tools to combat harassment and hate,” the statement said. “We have work underway including a review of our Hateful Conduct and Harassment policies, enhanced offensive username detection, improvements to AutoMod and our Banned Words list, and other projects focused on reducing harassment and hateful conduct.”
The games industry is continuing to see an ongoing #metoo movement. Several high-profile figures, such as former Assassin’s Creed Valhalla creative director Ashraf Ismail and former Dying Light 2 writer Chris Avellone, have had multiple allegations levied against them. In both situations, the accused individual is no longer associated with the project or projects they were working on. Avellone has also had his contributions removed from the upcoming RPG Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2.
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