Twitch CEO apologizes to Ninja for “lewd content” promoted on his old channel

Twitch’s CEO Emmett Shear has replied to the criticism of Fortnite streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins about the use of his old Twitch channel.

Shear apologized for Twitch automatically promoting a creator who was streaming pornography through Ninja’s old channel. Ninja’s channel had become a page where Twitch recommended several other Fortnite streamers for unadvised viewers to watch since he now streams only on Microsoft’s platform Mixer. But the user who streamed porn broke Twitch’s Code of Conduct and promoted their content by categorizing it as Fortnite gameplay, which made their stream appear on Ninja’s old channel.

Related: How much money has Mixer paid Ninja to stream on its platform?

“I want to apologize directly to Ninja that this happened,” Shear said. “It wasn’t our intent, but it should not have happened. No excuses.”

Shear also replied to Ninja’s claims that his channel was the only one that Twitch ever used to promote other streamers. Ninja said other creators who have also changed platforms still had all of their old stream VODs and clips available, and he was the only one who lost it all. Shear wrote that this is part of Twitch’s new experiment of content promotion across the platform.

“To help ensure they find great, live channels we’ve been experimenting with showing recommended content across Twitch, including on streamer’s pages that are offline,” Shear said. “This helps all streamers as it creates new community connections.”

But Twitch reverted Ninja’s channel to its old format last night. New visitors will see his channel as if he was offline and no Fortnite or any other streams are being promoted there. Players can also access his VODs and clips again.

Ninja thanked Twitch for the reversion and made no further comments on the issue. Shear didn’t specify when Twitch is planning to adapt other offline streamers’ channels to promote similar content on the platform.