xQc banned on Twitch for third time after showing “explicit content”
BlizzardOne of Twitch’s biggest streamers, Felix ‘xQc’ Lengyel, has felt the wrath of the platform’s banhammer for the third time. This time, it was an explicit content charge that undid the French-Canadian star.
The Overwatch-pro-turned-streaming-phenom is consistently at the top of Twitch. However, xQc is known for toeing the line with Twitch rules and community guidelines when creating his incredibly popular streams.
He once again crossed that line on June 11, forcing Twitch’s hand to take down his channel once again.
Robert Paul for Blizzard EntertainmentWhy was xQc banned on Twitch?
The streamer had his channel taken down late on June 11 for apparently showing “a gorilla supposedly f***ing another for about a second by accident,” he said on Twitter.
“Banned for 24 hours. A little confused, considering the nature of the video, length, and in reality, if it’s an actual concern or if there’s actually any damage done. No one thought anything of it, it was even in a meme format.”
Twitch’s Community Guidelines state that “explicit content or activities” are banned on the platform. This is likely what got xQc banned, but the streamer didn’t clarify the specific reason his channel was taken down.
A LITTLE CONFUSED, CONSIDERING THE NATURE OF THE VIDEO, LENGHT AND IN REALITY IF IT'S AN ACTUAL CONCERN OR IF THERE'S ACTUALLY ANY DAMAGE DONE. NO ONE THOUGHT ANYTHING OF IT, IT WAS EVEN IN A MEME FORMAT. I WON'T FIGHT IT. TOS AND ANIMALS IS A VERY NEBULOUS TOS. WHO KNOWS LOL
— xQc (@xQc) June 12, 2020
xQc not taken down by DMCA
Popular community consensus was that the former Overwatch pro was issued a DMCA takedown.
However, fellow Twitch streamer ‘Adept’ clarified xQc wasn’t banned over a DMCA takedown at the end of her stream. She didn’t specify what it was for though until the streamer tweeted about it.
“We don’t wanna get DMCA’d, which, by the way, is not why xQc got banned, but keep talking like you know what’s going on,” she said at the end of her stream.
It comes after a week where many Twitch streamers were struck with mass DMCA takedown requests from record labels. The platform said the June 7 affair was “the first time [it has] received mass DMCA claims against clips.”
Since then, the streaming community has been cautious about using copyrighted material on their broadcasts. Twitch has also been putting new policies in place to help protect streamers and rights holders alike.
xQc’s account will be unbanned late on June 12, so it’s likely we won’t see the former Overwatch star hit the airwaves until June 13.