xQc fans call out Twitch for ‘double standards’ after controversial ban

Fans of popular Twitch streamer xQc have called on the platform to unban his channel, after he was handed a suspension for playing a suggestive game on stream, even starting an ‘unbanxQc’ hashtag trend.

The former Overwatch pro was one of the most subscribed-to channels on the entire platform when he was banned on February 29, showing Twitch are willing to hand down punishments to even their biggest stars.

The cause of the ban has been contentious though, as many argue similar instances from other streamers, as well as xQc himself, have gone unpunished.

Twitch has been criticized for a lack of both consistency and transparency when it comes to their sanctions, usually handed down for violations of the site’s community guidelines.

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These guidelines state that the moderation team always takes “context” into account when reviewing potentially offending material, but this remains somewhat vague, causing debate among viewers and streamers.

After the ban, one fan highlighted that games such as Witcher 3 include full-frontal nudity, and xQc himself has played that game without punishment. Further to this, the fan claimed that body painting streams often toe the line between suggestive content and artistic work.

Others pointed out that xQc made an immediate effort to close the game when the exposed section appeared, clearly trying to avoid showing the material. Other streamers have done the same, and by deleting any clips of VOD’s of the incident, escape punishment.

Another fan, using the hashtag #unbanxQc, pointed out the infamous Alinity cat debacle, for which she was not banned, and compared it to Lengyel’s transgression.

https://twitter.com/EPICFACEHEAVEN/status/1233931523621113858

YouTuber KEEMSTAR also weighed in, suggesting that the platform was “sexist against male streamers”, by comparing xQc’s incident to that of a female streamer, ZombiUnicorn.

https://twitter.com/KEEMSTAR/status/1233960705679818752

What are Twitch’s rules?

In the ‘Nudity and Sexual content in games’ section of Twitch’s community guidelines, it states: “Occurrences of in-game nudity are permitted, so long as you do not make them a primary focus of your content and only spend as much time as needed in the area to make progress.”

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However, it also clarifies that games where this content is “main focus” are entirely prohibited. It could be argued that the anime game xQc was playing did make this content the main focus.

xQc has not addressed the ban publicly, other than posting an image of Pepe the frog with the caption “too much juice this time.” Twitch does not comment on community guidelines violations to respect the privacy of users.