LS banned on Twitch, says he was DMCA’d for live viewing LEC broadcast

During a live viewing of the 2022 LEC Summer Split playoffs today, popular League of Legends content creator Nick “LS” De Cesare had his stream taken down and his account banned.

The 28-year-old said on social media that Riot Games issued a DMCA for his coverage of the league and that he’ll only be able to appeal the ban through the multi-million dollar company. It was a surprise to both him and his followers when his broadcast went down early into the day on Aug. 26.

One fan brought up the fact that he could have been hit with the DMCA due to viewing VODs for three hours prior to the start of the broadcast. But LS said that those VODs are split into highlight portions and that the countdown screen even has different colors and aesthetics. The streamer still doesn’t understand what could have prompted the issue.

LS has been live viewing competitive League for some time now, whether it is from the LCS, LEC, or LCK. He has even live viewed games at the World Championship without issue.

“I’m doing the same thing I’ve done for the past four years and even had conversations about with Riot,” LS said. “My title had ‘liveview’ as did my overlay, [and] it’s not even like I was attempting to co-stream or show audio/gameplay.”

As of now, LS’ stream says it “has been removed at the request of the copyright holder.” It might take a bit of time before he is able to bring the channel back up, but he should be able to get the channel back due to his previous understandings with Riot, along with his status as a prominent figure within the League community.

Update Aug. 26 12:31pm CT: After only an hour, LS has been unbanned from Twitch and is currently live viewing the LEC playoffs. He also thanked EMEA head of esports Maximilian Peter Schmidt, Mel “Swimbananas” Capperino-Garcia, and the LEC’s lead broadcast producer John “Triaged” Daniel Depa for their help with the situation.