After banning DrDisrespect, Twitch emphasizes how tough they are against harassment – ​​From Shurjoka’s point of view, this must seem cynical

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The aftermath of DrDisrespect’s ban has now led Twitch to emphasize how strictly they moderate and how well they protect their streamers. From a German perspective, this seems cynical when you look at the drama surrounding the streamer Shurjoka, who has asked Twitch support for help several times and complains that she has only been met with silence.

This is the situation around DrDisrespect:

  • The streamer DrDisrespect was permanently banned from Twitch in 2020. His lucrative exclusive contract was terminated. The reasons for the ban were unclear for 4 years.
  • DrDisrespect sued Twitch. In March 2022, an arbitration reached an agreement that neither side had done anything wrong. DrDisrespect’s contract was paid out in full. Nevertheless, after this ban, DrDisrespect received no further offers from the platforms and lost many advertising deals.
  • In recent weeks, the background to the ban came to light: In 2017, DrDisrespect exchanged inappropriate messages with a then 17-year-old girl via Twitch’s Whisper system, was subsequently banned and reported to the authorities.

    • Since the circumstances of the ban became known, DrDisrespect’s career has apparently been over. His gaming studio has parted ways with him, partners have severed ties, and even YouTube has demonetized him.

    This was the knowledge that was available for many years regarding the ban on DrDisrespect:

    DrDisrespect was a celebrity on Twitch – his ban remains a big secret to this day

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    Twitch declares: “No place for harassment”

    This is what Twitch says now: Twitch was asked by Eurogamer if they would comment on the “DrDisrespect” case. They received a “No comment” in response.

    But Twitch also emphasized how important the safety of streamers on their platform is to them:

    “Harassment has no place on Twitch, we take enforcement of our hateful conduct and harassment policies very seriously,” a spokesperson said.

    This is how you moderate content 24/7. And continue to work on protecting streamers even better.

    That is why this is cynical from a German perspective: In Germany, a dispute over Twitch streamer Shurjoka has been raging for more than a year.

    She accuses a number of male Twitch streamers, whom she calls a “boys club,” of running a targeted harassment campaign and profiting financially from this campaign. Hundreds of videos have been made about her, which borders on obsession.

    The streamers who were attacked reject this and make fun of the accusations in videos that they are launching an “anti-feminist smear campaign”. In their view, “Shurjoka is simply lost”, has “L-takes” and people earn good money by “criticizing her purely objectively”.

    Shurjoka has repeatedly asked Twitch support to investigate the case and protect her. She has publicly complained that this is precisely the protection that is missing.

    The story has become increasingly absurd in recent months:

  • One of the creators said he wanted to have Shurjoka committed “for her protection” (via twitter)
  • Shurjoka smugly hinted that he knew the identity of a content creator who was still anonymous: He was not as anonymous as he thought. This was taken as a threat to make his private data public – this is known as “doxxing”.
  • In addition, the parties are now suing each other in dozens of lawsuits
    • Shurjoka accuses her main antagonist of making an extremely large number of videos about her and profiting financially from them.

    Twitch bans a streamer – but he simply sues back

    Does Twitch protect its streamers? In a particularly blatant case in December 2023, from which even his colleagues distanced themselves, a streamer had made fun of the streamer’s complaints in a “drunk stream” on Twitch and said: “Twitch support doesn’t give a shit about you.”

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    Twitch appears haphazard in court and loses

    Ultimately, the streamer was actually banned from Twitch. However, he was able to sue Twitch again after a short time because Twitch made some procedural errors in the ban, which the streamer found amusing.

    Among other things, he should have been warned in advance and given the exact reason for the ban.

    According to trial observers, Twitch’s lawyers appeared to have no plan in court and were only pursuing the strategy that a German court had no jurisdiction. When this strategy failed, the lawyers were unable to name exactly which statements the streamer, who triumphantly celebrated his return to Twitch, had been banned for.

    The fact that Twitch takes the protection of its creators so seriously and moderates content 24/7 is not reflected in the actions described, at least in Germany.

    In April 2024, Shurjoka again criticized Twitch for being inactive in her case and for Twitch rejecting reports to support without reading them. The issue was that another streamer had posted torture fantasies about her, among other things: Germany’s player of the year denounces Twitch

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