Twitch has officially disabled United States President Donald Trump’s account. Trump has faced widespread disapproval since a group of his supporters stormed the United States Capitol on January 6. Many have accused the president of inciting the incident and criticized him for failing to condemn the perpetrators.
Esports insider Rod “Slasher” Breslau shared a statement from Twitch regarding their decision to disable the president’s account. The statement reads: “In light of yesterday’s shocking attack on the Capitol, we have disabled President Trump’s Twitch channel. Given the current extraordinary circumstances and the President’s incendiary rhetoric, we believe this is a necessary step to protect our community and prevent Twitch from being used to incite further violence.”
Notably, this will not be a permanent ban. Donald Trump only faces a temporary suspension from live-streaming on the platform. However, the suspension is set to persist at least until the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on January 20.
More about the suspension of Donald Trump on Twitch
Twitch is one of many social media outlets that have placed limits on Donald Trump since yesterday. Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat have also put temporary locks on the president’s accounts. Additionally, Twitter has required the deletion of some of the tweets Trump made as yesterday’s events unfolded.
This is not the first time Twitch has taken action against Donald Trump. Last June, Trump also received a temporary suspension. Twitch said some of the content the channel broadcasted that month violated the platform’s policy against hateful conduct. These included a rebroadcast of his 2015 campaign announcement and the livestream of a June 2020 rally.
In a similar case, Twitch recently made the decision to remove the PogChamp emote. Ryan “Gootecks” Guterriez, the face of the emote, recently made a tweet martyring Ashli Babbitt, also sharing a graphic video of her death. Capitol Police shot and killed Babbitt while she stormed the Capitol with other Trump supporters. Despite banning PogChamp, Twitch has expressed its intention to replace the emote.
