Twitch streamer Hasan Piker has called on Twitch to revise their rules following a 24-hour suspension he received for reading and analyzing a manifesto.
In a YouTube video titled “i got suspended again” posted to his channel shortly after his May 25 ban, Piker outlined his reasoning for covering the material and criticized Twitch’s policy.
“This is a part of the Twitch Terms of Service,” Piker explained in the video. “You are not allowed to even show a violent extremist manifesto on stream while denouncing it. This, I think, is not good for news and press freedom.”
“I’ll take the suspension but I hope Twitch changes it’s policy in the future – and I do believe they might.”
The suspension stemmed from a livestream in which Piker examined the manifesto of a shooter involved in a May 21 attack on Israeli embassy staff in Washington, D.C. Piker said his intent was to provide context and promote media literacy, in light of what he said was misinformation following the attack.
He also highlighted that he manifesto had been publicly sourced and released by journalists including Ken Klippenstein and Aric Toler.
“I critically examined the manifesto because people were already making assumptions online,” Piker said. “It’s what I’ve always done – covering breaking news stories with context and analysis to help people think critically.”
While Piker has reviewed other manifestos on his stream in the past without facing disciplinary action, he argued that this instance was different because of outside political pressure.
“There is no connection between me and the shooter,” Piker added.
Hasan considers YouTube streaming
The clause in Twitch’s Community Guidelines that triggered the ban prohibits the display of “violent extremist manifesto” on stream, even in a critical or educational context.
“I hope you can keep supporting me and watching me on YouTube,” Piker concluded in his video. “Because even if I get deplatformed from Twitch completely, I will still find a way. And even if I am deplatformed entirely from every single website the truth will still come out.”
On Discord, he suggested he may start multi-streaming on YouTube, as well as Twitch. “I might have to start dual-streaming. Not on TikTok but on YouTube.”
Content shared from www.dexerto.com.