Twitch lifts streamer’s wrongful ban after Reddit thread goes viral 18 months later

Twitch streamer ‘RyanWasTaken’ was banned back in July 2019 for reportedly engaging in “fraudulent activity.” He was on the cusp of partnership, and said he was wrongfully banned. Now, Twitch have owned up to their mistake after his plea went viral.

RyanWasTaken is a Pokemon content creator, who at the time of his Twitch suspension in 2019 was on the cusp of becoming a partner on the platform.

However, he was shot down just before applying. The platform accused him of “fraudulent activity,” such as using stolen credit cards to buy subs or defrauding his community.

“ I got this email and it says that I was engaging in fraudulent activity in purchases or payouts and that I’m banned indefinitely. I didn’t do that,” he claimed.

After 18 months of radio silence, Ryan was fed up. Trying to solve the issue privately was going nowhere, so he posted a video on YouTube on April 7 ⁠— and it went viral.

“I absolutely agree with not unbanning a Twitch account for doing that but I didn’t do any of these things,” he said.

“Every purchase I made on Twitch I made through my PayPal account or my own debit card, both of which I can prove are mine and I have access too.”

Ryan claims in the month leading up to his ban, a user came in donating hundreds of subs to his channel. After approaching them, the gifter said it was because they got a large inheritance and wanted to change people’s lives.

• Read More: Asmongold claims Twitch is creating an “anti-woman sentiment”

Ryan was planning to use the money to pay off a year of university before Twitch withheld his final payout.

“This is just speculation, but that amount of gifted subs or donations has triggered some sort of flag on Twitch’s system, and they’ve gone: ‘We’re gonna ban him. Clearly they have stolen a credit card and they are gifting subs to their own channel.’

“I don’t know why they haven’t banned the person who also gifted and donated all of that money. They are still fine. They were streaming for a long time.”

• Read More: Twitch reveals policy to combat extreme off-site streamer misconduct

However, after the thread went viral on Twitter and Reddit, Ryan was finally unbanned and free to stream again on the platform.

“Guys they did it thank you so much I’m actually crying,” he said on Twitter.

It’s not clear if Ryan will receive the “thousands of dollars” his final payout was worth. However, the creator is now free to start streaming again, and it’s likely his first stream back will draw big numbers and a ton of support.