Ban first, enquire later: The Twitch policy that is infuriating content creators on the platform

Despite its multifaceted features, Twitch seems to be facing the heat from a large section of the online community recently.

This is in relation to its skewed ban policy which seems to follow no consistent pattern and has resulted in several innocent streamers being banned from the platform.

One such streamer who was recently handed an unceremonious Twitch ban was Sebastian Fors, aka Forsen, who hails from Sweden and has 1.4 million followers on Twitch.

Without any prior warning or notice, Twitch decided to ban his channel for a day:

❌ Twitch Partner "forsen" (@forsen) has been banned! ❌https://t.co/WBK1dm8L1c#twitch #ban #secondban #partner #twitchpartner 🌧

— StreamerBans (@StreamerBans) September 9, 2020

This is not the first time that Forsen's channel has been banned this year as he was also banned back in May for a period of two weeks.

if Twitch is going to suspend Forsen for two weeks while melting down playing ranked matchmaking you may as well ban half the streamers on the platform https://t.co/hGFd27qezP

— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) May 11, 2020

While the furore around his previous ban eventually died down, his recent ban has once again opened up a Pandora's box related to Twitch's problematic policies.

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Forsen's Twitch ban triggers a whole new debate

In a recent video released by Esports Talk, the host Jake Lucky traces the recent story of Forsen's ban and its problematic repercussions.

In the video, Forsen revealed that the reason behind his ban was based on an absolute misunderstanding where a commonplace slang was mistaken for a homophobic slur. Forsen explains:

"So I say f**k and then I say f**k it right, with my silly swedish accent and apparently that sounds like something else ..I got banned for hateful conduct..They should be banned for hateful conduct for making fun of my swedish accent right?"

In response to Forsen's recent ban, another prominent Twitch streamer, Asmongold recently said:

"Forsen's a pretty big content creator ... I think they should have put in more diligence in making this decision because I don't think he should have been banned . You ban them under the assumption that they used the word they have no history of using, then yes I think that is a f*****g mistake. That is a 100% mistake."

This entire system which Twitch has is erroneous and seems to reek of injustice. There have been numerous situations in the past where notable streamers have been banned without any concrete reason.

The most relevant example is Dr Disrespect, who was banned from the platform without any prior notice or reason to the point that he still ponders over it and has anxiety over the same.

The fact that prominent content creators such as Dr Disrespect and Forsen have to undergo such an experience is testament to the fact that Twitch is an ailing platform which needs a major revamp in terms of its organisational structure.

By slapping unjustified bans on big names, Twitch is setting the wrong kind of precedent and if this continues, it could result in a large-scale inflammatory response and rebellion from its content creators.

honestly, everyone should just switch to youtube. So cringe how a company can just ban people who depend on this site for a living. They need to change this or people are going to leave the platform.

— :) (@hk2299) September 9, 2020

This innate discrepancy that pervades Twitch's policy system needs a desperate overhaul or it might result in popular streamers leaving the platform for good.