Twitch has banned controversial streamers Theo “Scurrows” Bottländer and Kevin “OrangeMorange” Bongers – “finally”, some cheer on social media. The lawyer Christian Solmecke talks about whether the platform is just allowed to do that.
What are the bans? Streamers Theo “Scurrows” Bottländer and Kevin “OrangeMorange” were banned from Twitch for 14 days in early June. Scurrows announced his ban via Twitter on June 7, while OrangeMorange’s ban was posted the following day by the automated account StreamerBans.
Both announced that they would engage lawyers and return to Twitch soon. Scurrows had already complained back to the streaming platform in 2021, 3 years after its supposedly permanent ban.
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Why were the two banned? As usual, Twitch did not make the reasons for the ban public. Some people may not be asking “why,” but rather, “why now?” After all, a ban on the “gamescom bullies” had already been demanded in 2022.
The joy of many was correspondingly great when Twitch finally swung the ban hammer. In the comments on Twitter, many praised or thanked the streaming platform. Some content creators even put their own streams under the motto of the bans:
Why are so many happy about the bans? Scurrows and OrangeMorange have long been criticized for their casino content. After losing a lot of viewers due to Twitch’s new gambling guidelines, they apparently changed their strategy:
Statements about trans people as a reason for a ban?
Scurrows himself claims he was banned for making the controversial documentary What Is a Woman? by right-wing commentator Matt Walsh. However, it is suspected that the ban could be more related to the tweets that the streamer subsequently posted.
He wrote that he had been able to convince an alleged trans woman to be a man after all and recommended that she receive psychological care from a foreign doctor, since only brainwashing was practiced in Germany.
Scurrows has since deleted the tweets, but says he still stands by them. They were only misunderstood in the context of the documentary.
OrangeMorange, on the other hand, shared a screenshot showing that the underlying breach allegedly took place back in February – amid the controversy surrounding Hogwarts Legacy, a game set in the Harry Potter universe.
Both streamers took part in the debate and made their support for Harry Potter author JK Rowling public. Critics accuse the author of having anti-trans views, among other things.
Lawyer finds bans justified
Are the bans legal? Lawyer Christian Solmecke explores this question in his latest video on YouTube. We have summarized the most important statements for you here:
Does Twitch have domiciliary rights? Twitch reserves the right to refuse its services to users without notice and at its own discretion, i.e. to block them. In particular, Solmecke finds the part that Twitch can impose a ban for any reason questionable. In his opinion, that’s going too far.
However, according to the lawyer, a ban is justified if the community guidelines are violated. Solmecke suspects that Scurrows and OrangeMorange may have violated policies on hateful behavior with their statements about trans people.
However, according to the lawyer, Twitch, unlike a supermarket, for example, does not have full domiciliary rights and must protect the fundamental right to expression of opinion that applies in Germany. The rights of the streamer and the personality rights of the attacked group must therefore be weighed up.
Solmecke sees Twitch failing here: Since the streaming platform did not give an exact reason for the blocking, it is not possible to understand whether the respective statement or action is protected by freedom of expression.
However, the lawyer also emphasizes that defamation is not an opinion. He therefore considers the bans to be justified with reservations.
How about the lawsuits? Solmecke sees little chance that Scurrows and OrangeMorange will be allowed to return to Twitch earlier through their lawyers: the process would take longer than the two-week ban.
Currently both accounts are still banned, mathematically Scurrows should be back tomorrow, June 21st, followed by OrangeMorange on June 22nd.
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