Twitch has been sued for more than “all the money in the world” by banned League of Legends streamer Kirill ‘Likkrit’ Malofeyev.
At the start of 2022, former Virtus.Pro and M19 League of Legends star Likkrit was banned on Twitch. The Russian streamer, whose father was a part of sanctions from the US government against Russian oligarchs, sued the Amazon-owned platform as a result.
Twitch initially had one case against them dismissed, however, Malofeyev’s second suit led to a Russian court deciding that his rights had been violated because of the ban.
As per court filings, Twitch was fined 100,00 rubles for each day that the account remained banned. That fine also doubles at the end of each week, which, according to the purple platform’s representatives, has now reached “astronomical levels.”
Twitch counter sues Likkrit over ban and fine
According to new court filings, highlighted by Polygon, the Amazon-owned platform claims they’ve been fined more than “all the money in the world.”
“The astreinte is unjustified on any measure and is wholly disproportionate to the less-than-$2,000 in revenue generated by Malofeyev’s Account while active,” Twitch’s lawyers say in the filing.
They are also counter-suing Malofeyev’s judgment from the Russian courts, asking the US courts to block the judgment as it “undermines” the existing sanctions. They’re also pushing for arbitration between the two sides.
Likkrit had previously played at Worlds.
Additionally, Malofeyev’s suit, which is led by his father Konstantin Malofeyev, claims that he was punished for his role in a “worldwide sanctions evasion and malign influence network.”
Twitch does not comment on bans publicly and only discloses specific reasons to streamers themselves. Suspended channels will, routinely, show a message about community guidelines being broken to the public.
In a new rule change, the Amazon-owned platform is allowing some low-severity violations to expire. They will also share clips that show where exactly a violation transpired.
KICK, arguably Twitch’s biggest rival, has taken credit for those changes too.