Every once in a while, there will be news of some group either getting sued by the streaming giant Twitch, or trying to sue Twitch. The latest person wanting to sue Twitch is a Christian evangelist streamer who goes by the name “DrWitnesser,” who may or may not have modeled his name as a response to Call of Duty streamer Dr Disrespect.
Last summer, DrWitnesser was temporarily banned from Twitch for preaching in Fortnite, where the streamer essentially told a Muslim child that he would be going to hell. On January 7 of this year, he received an indefinite ban from Twitch. The official reason given was for engaging in hateful conduct, and the streamer announced he would be moving to YouTube.
DrWitnesser took to Twitter to announce he would be pursuing legal action against Twitch in relation to his indefinite ban from earlier this year. According to the streamer, the basis of the suit is the “unlawful termination of [his] Twitch account on the basis of religious discrimination.” He is seeking the full restoration of his Twitch account and the removal of any strikes on it. Interestingly enough, DrWitnesser did not have any representation at the time of his announcement.
There are certainly many who might support his cause, but the replies to his announcement have generally been mocking. As one user points out, “Where in the scripture did Jesus talk about telling 9-year-olds that they’re going to hell?” Considering the temporary ban last summer against the streamer, it is most likely a similar scenario that led to his January ban. While a ban from a person’s favorite platform is certainly frustrating, the decision to pursue legal action is something many people wouldn’t consider. Even Dr Disrespect contemplated legal action against Twitch after his ban, but it’s unclear if he has gone any further with that.
Religion can obviously be a touchy subject for many, especially when it comes to adults influencing children. Most of the time, it is okay if a parent gives permission ahead of time, but that is obviously not the case for an adult preaching to random children in random games. While DrWitnesser will be trying to present this case as evidence of discrimination against Christians on the Twitch platform, the reality is more complicated.
Twitch’s defense will likely focus on the platform enforcing its Hateful Conduct and Harassment policy in its Terms of Service. The policy defines hateful conduct as “any content or activity that promotes or encourages discrimination, denigration, harassment, or violence” based on protected characteristics like religion, gender, or race, among others. It also says that Twitch provides “certain protections for age.” Twitch will most likely have to reference instances where the policy was broken in DrWitnessers interactions on stream.
Twitch has been notorious for unevenly enforcing bans, and providing little to no reasons for sudden bans. Twitch is certainly no saint, but the debate will be as to whether or not this ban was fair. Of course, everything depends on if this case makes it into the courts.
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