The ban of Twitch streamer fallenshadow has sparked a great deal of backlash from other VTubers on the platform, with many claiming that they’ve got favoritism toward non-VTubing creators.
As for the reason behind her ban, it was a result of her getting drunk on stream. She wasn’t given a reason by Twitch by her account. Rather, fallenshadow (aka Shondo) received a follow-up email several hours later explaining that she was flagged for “self-harm behavior” because she got drunk on stream.
She received a 30-day ban from the platform, with the added stipulation that none of her subs would renew automatically on the pay period. Not only is she not generating money from streaming, everyone who was subbed to her will have to re-sub when her ban ends.
In the stream that got her banned, Shondo was venting about how worried she was that her livelihood could get swiped out from under her at any time, with those worries potentially being part of the self-harm ruling. Considering this isn’t her first ban on the platform, those feelings aren’t entirely unwarranted.
She elaborated in a follow-up tweet, “I’m afraid for the future because I always have the niggling thought that all of my friends will leave me or everyone will leave me or things will get worse because eventually my meds will stop working. That doesn’t mean I want to hurt myself in any way or plan on it.”
It is, however, worth noting that fallenshadow herself claimed that she got too drunk on her stream, with that being a possible reason behind the ban.
Several other VTuber’s replied to give her support, but also to express their frustration with Twitch. They claim that the platform is biased against VTubers and felt as if Twitch staff was “bullying” them.
“Twitch’s favorite gamers can say ki// yourself, but somehow bringing up mental health in any capacity during a drinking stream warrants a 30 day suspension. Twitch is not being the ‘we hate vtubers’ allegations,” claimed Bao, one of the biggest streamers on the platform.
Lemme get this straight
Twitch’s favorite gamers can say ki// yourself, but somehow bringing up mental health in any capacity during a drinking stream warrants a 30 day suspensionTwitch is not beating the “we hate vtubers” allegations
— Bao The Whale 🐳 (@baovtuber) September 15, 2024
“Someone at twitch seems to actually have it out for you at this point,” replied Pipkin Pippa, another big VTuber.
And, according to fallenshadow’s account, this is true. She claims that she’s under a separate set of rules from other streamers on Twitch, voicing her frustration at rules she’s “not allowed to see”:
“Is drinking on stream against TOS now? Or is it just against the made up second set of rules that my partner manager admitted moderation has for me (that I’m not allowed to see or hear about btw) because I am a petite woman with a high soft voice using a vtuber model that reflects me IRL?”
Twitch has yet to comment on the situation outside of the email sent to Shondo following her ban. At the time of writing, though, they’ve upheld their decision to keep her off the platform.