Streamer hits out at Twitch for deleting clip of her breastfeeding on stream

Twitch streamer ‘HeatheredEffect’ has slammed the livestreaming platform after a clip of her breastfeeding was taken down without any warning.

The streamer, who has amassed over 15,000 followers on the platform, can regularly be found chatting with viewers and handing out advice, taking on a painting stream, and even diving into some ASMR. 

However, during a recent Just Chatting stream, she had been breastfeeding a child in a move to try and normalize breastfeeding in public. A highlight clip of the moment, which some viewers took as a not-safe-for-work violation of the Twitch terms of service, quickly went viral and racked up over 20,000 views before mysteriously disappearing – and HeatheredEffect was not happy about it.

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During a Twitter storm after the clip had been deleted, the streamer took Twitch – and some confused viewers – head-on, asking why the specific moment had to be removed. 

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Sharing the highlight for those who may not have seen it, she tweeted: “This clip (which had over 20k views and would’ve helped tremendously with the  #normalizebreastfeeding movement) was deleted by Twitch with no explanation. We obviously have a long way to go in the fight to normalize breastfeeding.”

After a number of Twitter users pointed out that the clip contained brief moments of nudity and would be against Twitch community guidelines, HeatheredEffect even dug up the current rules to fight her corner.

“ToS takes context into consideration which is why @TominationTime can stream shirtless,” she added. “Regardless, some rules are meant to be broken to move society forward. I believe this is the right thing to do.”

The streamer also pointed out that one rule states that creators are recommended to wear appropriate attire given the context, intent, or activity on their broadcast.

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As HeatheredEffect was hosting an educational stream, she clearly believed that her look fell within the needed context and intent.

Of course, not everyone was supportive of her fight. Popular CS:GO broadcaster Mohamad ‘m0E’ Assad chimed in with his own personal experience. 

“My wife breast feeds in public all the time…. she uses a cover which is normal,” he stated. “They make them specifically for that purpose. You are wrong here.”

Fellow streamer MiltonTPike1‏, who is best known for his GTA RP content, joined in the conversation with a defense of Twitch. 

He said: “I think breastfeeding is completely normal and non-sexual. I feel similarly about peeing: everyone does it and it is (generally) non-sexual, but you can’t do that on-stream either. I don’t think Twitch are the bad guys here, we agreed to their terms of service in the first place.”

Despite the clip being removed, and some labeling the moment as a TOS violation, the HeatheredEffect channel has not suffered a suspension or permanent ban. 

It remains to be seen if she carries on her fight via livestreams, and if Twitch acts in a similar way in the future.