What is ban evasion on Twitch?

Twitch’s extensive community guidelines and terms of service cover a wide range of issues, and for those who fail to follow the rules, the platform’s discipline system involves banning and suspending accounts.

Due to the nature of the internet, however, there are numerous ways in which users attempt to avoid punishments by creating secondary accounts. Using Twitch services while one of your accounts is suspended or banned is referred to as “ban evasion.”

Ban evasion can happen in a number of different contexts, but overall, it’s a simple concept. If an account of a streamer is suspended or banned on the platform, they cannot stream on other channels, use Twitch, or appear on other creators’ channels.

The platform’s moderation and safety policies specifically note that owners of suspended accounts may not watch streams, broadcast, chat, create other accounts, or appear on other channels.

If a person with a banned or suspended Twitch account participates in or appears on another person’s channel, this can result in a ban of the channel that they appear on. Examples of this part of the policy include content creators being restricted from playing with Dr Disrespect on stream following his indefinite suspension. 

Another time this was pertinent was when Erobb’s account was suspended while he was at QTCinderella’s Shit Camp. Following the suspension, he wasn’t able to appear in Twitch content related to Shit Camp, leading to some slight adjustments to the event’s formatting.

What happens if Twitch catches a ban evasion attempt?

The most common form of ban evasion among streamers stems from the use of an alternate account. Many high-profile Twitch streamers have multiple accounts that they use, whether it’s a second account to stream from or a separate account to watch other creators on so that they can blend into a chatroom with other viewers.

Simply put, if a creator is caught evading a ban, their suspension will be extended, and any accounts affiliated with the evasion attempt will also be disciplined. 

The two best examples of this include Erobb and BruceDropEmOff. Following Erobb’s suspension last fall, he reportedly was caught using a secondary account to chat in another streamer’s channel and his suspension was extended.

Bruce, on the other hand, was a bit more egregious in his ban evasion. His alternate account was suspended last month following a broadcast in which he aggressively called out online commenters criticizing him for how he left the organization One True King (OTK).

The very next day, Bruce went live on his main Twitch channel, effectively evading the ban on his alternate Twitch channel. While he wasn’t immediately suspended that evening, the day after he ignored the alternate channel ban, he was banned on his main channel as well.