Twitch streamer ZeplaHQ unbanned following bizarre suspension for impersonation

Twitch streamer ZeplaHQ was banned on Twitch earlier today before being unbanned shortly after. The Ukrainian-born streamer received a ban and a community guideline strike on her Twitch account. The reason given to her by the platform was "impersonation."

The streamer she was accused of impersonating was none other than herself. The ban was obviously made in error, and Zepla was unbanned from Twitch after an hour and a half. However, aside from the inconvenience of being banned, she alleged that her channel's follower count had shrunken significantly following the ban, potentially causing serious damage to her streaming career.

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ZeplaHQ gets banned on Twitch for impersonating herself

The popular Final Fantasy XIV streamer responded to a tweet from the automated Twitter account StreamerBans, which announced that she had been unbanned following an hour-and-a-half-long suspension. The ban was made in error on Twitch's part, accusing the streamer of somehow impersonating herself.

In her tweet, Zepla noted that there were impersonators on the site who used her likeness to scam viewers. She said that Twitch hadn't done enough to combat these impersonators, and found it especially ridiculous that the platform's moderators mistook her verified channel for an impersonation.

She also said that the ban affected her channel's follower count, as she had over 240,000 followers before the ban and only 78,000 after. This also seems to have been a mistake that was corrected, as ZeplaHQ currently sits at over 244,000 followers.

Zepla began streaming shortly after being unbanned, sharing the email notification she received from Twitch and highlighting the ridiculousness of being accused of impersonating herself.

Maintaining a sense of humor about the suspension, Zepla joked that Twitch's initial claim that she was an impersonation wasn't completely unfounded.

"They literally banned me for impersonating myself... and there's a background to this. I do look suspiciously like myself, that's true."

Zepla is now unbanned, and her follower count has been restored, so it appears that the situation has been resolved. However, that doesn't take away from the bizarre nature of the ban, and Twitch will likely be expected to explain how such an egregious error was made.

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Fans react to the ZeplaHQ impersonation saga

Fans on Reddit had jokes about the situation, mocking how ridiculous the concept of someone impersonating themselves was.

Others took aim at Twitch for the error, noting that these instances have become too common in recent times.

Hopefully for ZeplaHQ and other streamers, the necessary steps to prevent these accidental bans will be taken in the future.