The dispute between the streamers Kevin “Orangemorange” Bongert and Kilian “Tanzverbot” Heinrich has been occupying the German Twitch scene for a long time. Now a new level of escalation seems to have been reached, because Orangemorange published the address of his opponent and accused him of drug abuse. The lawyer Christian Solmecke clarifies what consequences this can have.
What was the history? The dispute between the casino streamer Orangemorange and the gambling critic Tanzban has been brewing for a long time. There were even fisticuffs at gamescom in August 2022. Since then, apart from a few spikes, Twitter has been pretty quiet.
That all changed, however, when Tanzbane targeted Kick, the new streaming home of many gambling streamers. In a tweet, he suspected that viewership would be artificially increased there. He later addressed it in a stream.
How did gambling streamers react? Orangemorange was apparently also among the spectators, who accused the Berliner and his girlfriend of taking cocaine and donated money to him for a drug test.
Orangemorange then showed an apartment advertisement in its own stream. He said he’s considering moving there, the apartment is a real bargain. He is said not to have been aware that it was Tanzverbot’s apartment, whose address he thus made public for his – allegedly – 2,500 to 3,000 spectators.
Twitch: Tanzban says Orangemorange made his address public, accusing him of drug abuse
The lawyer Christian Solmecke is particularly active in the areas of media and IT law, and his clients also include content creators. In a YouTube video, he explained what consequences the actions could have for Orangemorange.
Fines and even imprisonment could result
What’s the situation with the drug allegations? Solmecke sees in the repeated allusions to a hair test the facts of slander and slander fulfilled. It also doesn’t matter that Orangemorange refers to supposed rumors that have come to his ears.
Because a hair test is so closely associated with cocaine and Orangemorange cannot prove the alleged drug use, Solmecke says it is defamation. According to the lawyer, this could result in a prison sentence of up to one year or a fine.
To qualify as defamation, the streamer would need to be aware that their claims about no dancing are untrue. Then there could even be up to 2 years imprisonment.
Does Orangemorange have to go to jail now? In both cases it is a question of so-called application offences. Ban on dancing would first have to file a criminal complaint before anything even happens. Only then would an investigation be started and finally a decision made as to whether the facts of the case have been fulfilled before a decision is made on a sentence.
These are legal options. However, Solmecke explains that dance ban can take civil action against Orangemorange. The Berliner could demand a cease and desist declaration.
Orangemorange would have to commit to not doing something like this again and otherwise pay a dance ban of €5,000.
Twitch streamer Jens “Knossi” Knossala has also had experience with the law – if only with Barbara Salesch.
From the witness stand at Barbara Salesch to the king of Twitch – career and life of Knossi
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Publishing addresses can have bad consequences
What about the address leaks? According to Solmecke, Orangemorange also violated data protection law by publishing the Berliner’s home address – even if he packaged the whole thing as a mistake. In this case, Tanzban could demand compensation.
Because if the addresses of streamers fall into the wrong hands, quite a lot can be done with them. For example, the fire brigade is sent over or the police are suddenly at the grandparents’.
One streamer even stated that she was traumatized by the so-called swatting incidents.
Alternatively, according to Solmecke, Tanzban could also assert claims for damages and injunctive relief due to a violation of personal rights. Since these are two major content creators, the fine here could be around €10,000, says the lawyer.
In order to assert these claims, however, the Berliner would need evidence, for example in the form of uncensored screenshots showing the publication.
You can find the full video on Christian Solmecke’s YouTube channel.
The controversy between orangemorange and ban on dancing seems to have reached a new level. In this case, the trigger seems to be the assumptions of the Berliner that Kick would artificially increase the number of viewers in order to create hype.
Twitch streamers are now showing gambling on kick, but something is said to be wrong