A California man is suing Twitch for $25 million in damages for being exposed to “overly suggestive and sexual content” on the site, according to court documents.
The 56-page lawsuit filed by Erik Estavillo and obtained by Dexerto includes images of numerous scantily-clad female Twitch streamers. The summons was officially served by the Superior Court of California on June 19.
In the complaint, Estavillo says he’s a sex addict who also suffers from depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and Crohn’s disease, so he “heavily relies on the internet for all his entertainment purposes.”
“Twitch has extremely exacerbated his condition by displaying many sexually suggestive women streamers through Twitch’s twisted programming net code, making it nearly impossible for the plaintiff to use Twitch without being exposed to such sexual content,” the complaint says.
The complaint also says that Estavillo is following 786 female streamers and zero male streamers on Twitch. Some of the broadcasters mentioned by name and image in the complaint are Pokimane, STPeach, Pink Sparkles, and Alinity.
“In addition, Twitch also takes advantage of the plaintiff and many other sexually addicted viewers by allowing them to ‘Subscribe, Donate, or Pay Bits’ to these women streamers,” the complaint says. “Twitch uses this immediate gratification reward system against their sexually addicted viewers no different than how a Casino would.”
Estavillo’s “request for relief” in the complaint includes the permanent banning of every streamer mentioned in his report, along with $25 million in punitive damages to be split between himself and all other Twitch Prime Turbo subscribers—with whatever’s left going to COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter charities.
Estavillo has previously sued Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Blizzard Entertainment in the past for various reasons. All of the previous cases have been dismissed.
