Streamer Tyler Blevins AKA Ninja shared a video on Twitter earlier today that responded to Twitch promoting porn and other streamers on his old channel. The streamer made big news earlier this month when he announced his departure from Twitch after striking an exclusive partnership with Mixer. It was a move that many felt throughout the entire streaming community. Many followed Ninja to Mixer and he quickly hit 1 million subscribers on the new platform in under a week.
Twitch has been under fire for a while now for changing and/or ignoring their own rules and terms of service. Thousands saw streamer Alinity throw her cat while playing and live-streaming Apex Legends, and although she did apologize to her fans and the online community after the video went viral, she seemed to suffer no repercussions from Twitch itself. Viewers have also been very vocal about changes Twitch has been making within its community of streamers. Recently, the announcement of Twitch's subscriber-only streams was met with jeer and derision.
According to an article on The Verge, Twitch took over Ninja's channel last week and claimed it as its own property, using it to promote other streamers and pornography. In a video posted to his Twitter account, Ninja explains that, initially, the "transition went incredibly smooth, very professional," while noting there were just a couple of hiccups. He goes on to explain that his account is currently promoting other streamers, including a channel streaming pornography. As far as he can tell, his is the only channel that does this. Ninja apologized to his fans and confirms that he and his team want the entire channel taken down. Rod Breslau stood up for Ninja on Twitter, remarking, "Twitch with its latest L in a long string of Ls." Check out Ninja's full video here:
Though he no longer streams from it, Ninja's Twitch channel is still active on the website. He first became aware of the situation when a channel streaming porn reached number one after being promoted on his old channel. According to Twitch's own terms of service, streaming nudity and sexual activity are strictly prohibited, so this particular reaction raised many eyebrows. Following the streamer's prompt apology to fans on Twitter, Twitch finally returned Ninja's channel to its original, offline status.
From every perspective, this was a very bad move on Twitch's part. It appears as if they seem to be perfectly content breaking their own rules when it suits them or brings them more viewers, and they only seem to react when they are forced to. Twitch undoubtedly suffered losses after Ninja's departure, but this reaction raises dubious questions about how they see their streamers and what they think they can do with the content created on their platform. Twitch seems to have backed off from this particular fight, but if anything, it shows that there could possibly be even more on the horizon.