Twitch has temporarily banned Donald Trump for “hateful conduct,” with the streaming platform stating that it would not make exceptions for the President of the United States when it came to enforcing its rules. This follows the news that the Trump subreddit r/the_donald was banned by Reddit for breaching a variety of the site’s rules.
Trump’s Twitch account was used to host his rallies, with one of the channel’s recent streams featuring his recent rally in Tulsa. Twitch has flagged some of these streams for content that violates its Terms of Service, resulting in a temporary ban for the channel.
“Like anyone else, politicians on Twitch must adhere to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines,” Twitch said in a statement released to The Verge. “We do not make exceptions for political or newsworthy content, and will take action on content reported to us that violates our rules.”
The news shortly follows the announcement that Reddit would also be cracking down on subreddits breaching its rules, including its infamous unofficial Trump subreddit. r/the_donald was previously quarantined by Reddit, though it has now been removed altogether from the site.
Twitch’s decision comes in the wake of its announcement that it would be enforcing strict bans to streamers in an effort to combat harassment. With multiple streamers being accused of sexual harassment and abuse in recent weeks, Twitch has been steadily removing these individuals from the platform. It also removed Dr Disrespect, one of its most popular personalities, though has yet to clarify why he has been banned.
Trump’s ban on Twitch marks a new direction for social networks and online platforms when it comes to dealing with the President. Many have come under fire in the past for allowing Trump to use their platforms at his will, despite him frequently breaking their Terms of Service with his output.
In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests this year, Twitter put forth measures in which Trump’s erroneous tweets would be immediately fact-checked. This led to the President signing an executive order which targeted social media companies, with him saying they had “unchecked power to censor … virtually any form of communication between private citizens and large public audiences.”
