Twitch’s ambiguous Community Guidelines didn’t get any clearer today.
Variety streamer Pokelaws received a 72-hour Twitch ban today for showing a man’s “bare ass” during his broadcast, he explained on Twitter. The Canadian’s fans are confused by the streaming platform’s seemingly unequal standards that vary from streamer to streamer.
“Getting banned on Twitch for 72 hours, some dudes bare ass from the 1980s got shown,” Pokelawls said. “Yep.”
One fan posted a video of Pokelawl’s alleged violation on Reddit, which shows the streamer watching a music video for The Babe Rainbow song, “Secret Enchanted Broccoli Forest,” on YouTube. The music video pans to a nude man walking on the beach for less than two seconds before quickly switching to another shot.
It’s unconfirmed that this is the reason for Pokelawl’s suspension, but Twitch strictly prohibits showing nudity, pornography, and sexual content on broadcasts.
Pokelawls also claims that he’ll lose access to Twitch Bounties, a way for content creators to accept paid sponsorship opportunities directly from the Twitch dashboard.
For fans and content creators, this would be an easier pill to swallow if consequences were doled out fairly to all streamers. But suspensions are often issued on a case-by-case basis.
Many Pokelawl fans brought up a recent clip of popular variety streamer Pokimane accidentally showing a lewd image on her broadcast when googling the word “spunk.” Though the act may not have been intentional, it falls under the same umbrella of bannable Twitch offenses.
Pokelawl’s forced hiatus will extend across the weekend, but he’ll be back on Twitch early next week.
