Twitch allegedly has secret “Strike Guide” for deciding bans

James ‘PhantomL0rd’ Vargas’ lawsuit against Twitch may have revealed some fascinating aspects of the Amazon-owned platform’s decision making as it pertains to bans.

Twitch has long been scrutinized for how it dishes out bans to streamers and now PhantomL0rd is claiming the site has secret policies in place that are especially concerning.

On Friday, April 23, it was revealed that Vargas won his lawsuit against Twitch for wrongfully banning him back in 2016. According to Vargas, during the trial, the jury found Twitch “breached its standard partner contract, acted in bad faith, and committed fraud by making numerous misrepresentations to me.”

Now, the former streamer has delved a bit deeper into Twitch’s actions, including how the jury felt about the platform’s “secret enforcement policies” for bans.

“The jury determined that because of its conduct, Twitch waived any enforcement of its Terms of Service,” PhantomL0rd wrote in an April 28 Twitlonger. “Also in this trial, Twitch’s secret ‘Strike Guide’ – its undisclosed list of rules ‘violations’ – was revealed and given the scrutiny it deserved.”

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This is a big deal, because it shows the jury was strongly against Twitch’s guide and its violations – something that would surely stir up a lot of controversy if it was ever made public.

He further stated, “Twitch’s arbitrary and baseless punishment system was found to be improper. Regrettably, Twitch still does not comprehend how inappropriate its punishment system is and asked the court to place the secret ‘Strike Guide’ under seal.”

As Dexerto previously reported, PhantomL0rd has claimed Twitch is trying to keep him from discussing the lawsuit, implying that there could be some extremely damning details related to how the site conducts itself tucked away.

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PhantomL0rd went on to add that he believes Twitch needs to evaluate its TOS and “illegal punishment system.”

“It is about time that light be shown on Twitch’s actions so that all streamers are treated fairly. Also, we expect the judge to address my unfair competition claim in due time,” he concluded.

PhantomL0rd says he will be discussing more details and answering questions during a YouTube broadcast on Thursday, April 29 at 8am PST, 11am EST, 3:00pm UTC.

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It’s not clear how deep he’ll go into the case, but with the pot now stirred, it will be interesting to see what more comes of it and if Twitch’s secret strike guide will be revealed.