Update: Twitch suspends Donald Trump’s Twitch channel indefinitely

Shortly after Joseph Biden was inaugurated as the new President of the United States, Twitch announced that it had maintained its suspension indefinitely from former President Donald Trump’s Twitch channel “due to the continuing risk of incitement to further violence. ” The decision to indefinitely suspend the account comes as the company strives to “eliminate any risk of harm to our community and the general public,” following the company’s previous decision to deactivate the channel earlier this month on the 7th. January. Twitch’s full statement reads as follows:

“We have suspended President Trump’s Twitch channel indefinitely due to the continued risk of incitement to violence. The President’s statements continue to be interpreted as calls to action, and we are taking this step to eliminate the risk of harm to our community and the general public.

Twitch has clear rules that prohibit hateful behavior, harassment, or incitement to violence on our service, and we consider out-of-service events when making enforcement decisions. However, the events of the past few weeks have highlighted a gap in the rhetoric that encourages violence, whether or not it has been streamed directly to Twitch. We will update our policies as a result of our review of this situation. “

The original story follows:Live streaming platform Twitch announced that it had deactivated President Donald Trump’s channel on Thursday.

In a statement to IGN from a Twitch spokesperson, “In light of yesterday’s shocking attack on Capitol Hill, we have disabled President Trump’s Twitch channel.”

The company added: “Given the current extraordinary circumstances and the President’s inflammatory rhetoric, we believe this is a necessary step to protect our community and prevent Twitch from being used to incite further violence. . “

Yesterday, both houses of the US Congress met to certify the results of the 2020 US presidential election which determined Joe Biden as the winner. Donald Trump, who for weeks espoused conspiracy theories that the election was stolen, addressed a nearby crowd who then marched to the Capitol and briefly clashed with police and occupied the buildings from the Capitol.

US lawmakers from both parties have been forced to flee or barricade themselves for their safety.

In the aftermath of these events, digital companies have taken steps to limit Trump’s presence to prevent further violence. Facebook announced it would indefinitely ban Trump from Facebook and Instagram, and Twitter launched a temporary ban.

Trump’s official Twitch channel once upon a time previously suspended in 2020 after rebroadcasting several gatherings that Twitch said violated its hateful conduct guidelines.

Twitch also recently removed the popular “PogChamp” emote based on fighting game player Ryan ‘Gootecks’ Gutierrez following comments he made following the Capitol Hill Uprising which Twitch said called for more violence.

It’s unclear how long Trump’s Twitch account will remain disabled, but Twitch says it is focusing on minimizing damage during the transition period, which is the next two weeks until Joe Biden is invested in. as president.

Matt TM Kim is a reporter for IGN.

(Photo by Isaac Brekken / Getty Images)