The German Twitch streamer AlphaKevin has received a ban on Twitch and is cleverly using it to his advantage. A streamer’s plan to punish him for a video completely backfires.
What was the reason for the argument? The opinion blogger AlphaKevin uploaded the video “Gronkh is Misogynistic according to Shurjoka” to his YouTube channel on September 5, 2024. This is a so-called “ragebait” video:
So the video will most certainly cause people to go into the video with their fists clenched and then express their displeasure with Shurjoka in the comments.
The video goes back to a conflict between Shurjoka and Gronkh in February 2023 about Hogwarts Legacy. Gronkh was criticized at the time for statements about Hogwarts Legacy, but received €37,000 from his fans in support of his position.
The streamer Shurjoka then commented that she would also like to have such shitstorms. Gronkh later made negative comments about Shurjoka.
In a new stream, Shurjoka now accused her of misogyny: Without looking more closely at the conflict between her and the streamer Scurrows at the time, he said he believed “the man” and distrusted the woman, i.e. her.
Gronkh, the man with the voice – career and life of Germany’s most famous Let’s Player
More videos
Autoplay
Shurjoka is annoyed about “dudes who make money on her back”
This was the result of the video:
As another streamer noted, AlphaKevin has clearly positioned himself with this video in the ongoing battle between Shurjoka and the so-called “Boysclub”, a group of streamers (via X).
Apparently as a direct reaction to this video, Shurjoka had a moderator issue a DMCA strike on AlphaKevin’s Twitch stream the following day, thus blocking his Twitch channel for two days. In the stream, AlphaKevin once again addressed the topic of “Shurjoka”.
Shurjoka apparently wanted to send a signal, as she suggests on X, that she does not tolerate money being made “on her back” and accused AlphaKevin of not having provided correct sources.
But the real reason that AlphaKevin came into the crosshairs was apparently his video about the conflict between Shurjoka and Gronkh.
A DMCA strike like this is clearly against the unwritten rules of how streamers interact with each other. It endangers the possibility of earning money. This strike is considered unsportsmanlike because it silences one party, at least for a certain period of time.
AlphaKevin emphasizes his own neutrality – conceals Gronkh video
How did AlphaKevin use this to his advantage? When explaining why he received the strike, AlphaKevin ignored the last video about Shurjoka, which came out immediately before the strike. He was referring purely to the fact that he always treated Shurjoka fairly compared to other YouTubers and also “gave her points” when she deserved them.
AlphaKevin shows in which videos he deals with Shurjoka, but leaves out the crucial video:
He also stressed how hard the strike was hitting him, which was significantly limiting his income. He said that an attempt was made to inflict maximum financial damage on him.
AlphaKevin repeatedly emphasized how unfair he felt the strike was and that “his channel should be destroyed” and “maximum damage should be done to him.” He had always been fair towards her.
He thinks Shurjoka is attacking him because she thinks he won’t fight back.
AlphaKevin is happy about tremendous support
How did he benefit from the ban? Ultimately, the ban on Twitch lasted 2 days.
Since AlphaKevin usually only streams about 12 hours a week on Twitch, you can assume a “loss” of about 2-4 hours of Twitch time. On average, his stream has 707 viewers.
His “comeback stream” on Twitch on September 8th averaged 1,676 viewers. Afterward, he thanked everyone for the many donations he received. He also gained 1,250 followers in the last 7 days, an increase of 511% compared to the week before (via SullyGnome).
In addition, he was able to use the ban to create two YouTube videos on his main channel alone that have over 150,000 views. The video about the misogynistic Gronkh also received 207,000 views.
The actual source of income for reaction streamers like AlphaKevin is not Twitch anyway, but the secondary use of Twitch streams on YouTube.
You can’t achieve anything on Twitch by using brute force.
This is shown by the example: This example shows that attempts to “silence” a content creator using such means do not work; in fact, the opposite is the case.
Public opinion tends to swing in favor of the person who received the strike. The person who issues it comes across as a bully who reacts disproportionately harshly and abuses his power and the system.
Other streamers who strive for a neutral view, such as Tanzverbot, express their incomprehension about the whole action (via YouTube).
And ultimately, such a ban has no serious consequences.
It is unlikely that Shurjoka has achieved her goal of at least AlphaKevin not making any more videos “on her neck” in the future. Ultimately, he now seems to have taken a liking to the topic and has announced that he will now “exploit the topic to his maximum advantage” because that is exactly what the other side does not want: Shurjoka has a streamer banned on Twitch, is compared to Hitler