Chaos at Twitch continues as the platform has banned CardboardCowboy. The only problem? He streams his own music on his channel exclusively.
Prominent creators are already calling for other creators to join them in a boycott of the platform. On June 6, Twitch revealed new guidelines that would ban ‘burned-in’ advertisements. This new guideline cuts out a significant portion of revenue streams employed by Twitch streamers. As such, many creators began discussing the changes and potential alternatives on social media.
“I don’t say it lightly but I think this is a legitimate situation where streamers should consider boycotting Twitch or moving to other platforms,” Asmongold, a hugely popular MMO streamer tweeted about the changes. “Making common and harmless forms of advertisement against Twitch ToS so Twitch can monopolize more of streamer’s income.”
Meanwhile, some streamers who have left the platform entirely are singing other platform praises. YouTube Gaming still maintains a 70/30 revenue split with creators and offers more discoverability with its YouTube Shorts feature—which mimics TikTok’s ‘Discovery’ feed. Twitch’s arbitrary enforcement of its rules leaves some wondering whether they should abandon the platform altogether.
CardboardCowboy saw his account banned from Twitch after he streamed music to which he owned the rights. The streamer appealed the ban, but that appeal was rejected with no explanation for why the original ban stands in the first place, just that he “violated Community Guidelines.”
“What exactly was the violation?” he tweets at Twitch Support. “What do I need to change to not violate ToS? There has been zero discourse with me about why my appeal was denied. Just this confusing email. It would really help if you could be clear about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.”
Apparently, CardboardCowboy isn’t allowed to fun a lo-fi channel that plays music 24/7. Even if he owns the rights 100% to it. When he proved that, Twitch refused to lift the ban, despite CardboardCowboy being a partner for over five years. Following the ban, CardboardCowboy has done like so many others and moved their channel to YouTube.