Ricegum & Tyler1 escaped Twitch bans because they “got viewership” claim former staff

Following a leaked ‘do not ban’ list that was reportedly in use by Twitch around five years ago, it has been claimed by former Twitch staff that some streamers, including Tyler1 and Ricegum, avoided bans from the platform due to their popularity.

On October 8, a data leak revealed a ‘do not ban’ list that was allegedly in use by Twitch. The list featured big-name streamers and Twitch staff members, and what appeared to be instructions about reports that may be received about their accounts.

However, this list is said to be very old and no longer in use according to former Twitch staff. Speaking to the Washington Post, former staffers said that the list was around five years out of date.

Further, the list was not blanket protection for these streamers, but rather a specific set of instructions to not ban under certain circumstances, and instead escalate the report.

Two of the most recognizable names on the list were Ricegum and tyler1. Both streamers with millions of followers, and still popular today, they were two of the biggest names on the platform back in 2016.

According to one former Twitch staffer: “RiceGum got partnership [his] removed way back in the day, but Twitch refused to ban him outright because he got viewership.” Despite no longer being a partner, he was given partner-like treatment and the opportunity to talk to staff “instead of being suspended by the admin team.”

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Similarly, tyler1 was said to be in a similar situation. “I do remember RiceGum and Tyler1 both being given way more grace than they should have been, and if one of us admins reported them [to the partner conduct team] anyway, we were told to kick rocks and pay attention to the do not ban list,” the former Twitch staffer noted.

Although the ‘do not ban’ list didn’t offer complete protection, some streamers were “treated with more chances or abilities than others.”

Ice_Poseidon and NoSleepTV, two streamers who have since been banned by Twitch, were also apparently given more chances, before eventually being issued their indefinite suspensions.

The controversial ‘do not ban’ list is apparently no longer used at all, and rather, Twitch uses a more “standardized” process of moderation. However, one of the former staffers still thought it possible that some streamers are given “extra slack,” but that if they were, it wouldn’t be kept hush by way of a secretive list of names.