Twitch Makes A Shocking Decision About Amouranth
Lately, Twitch has been upsetting creators left and right, and it seems like the streaming platform has kind of shrugged the controversy off. Already this year, Twitch lost a lawsuit over a controversial ban from 2016. Now, popular streamer Amouranth is encountering problems with the streaming platform, as it has suspended advertising on her channel.
On May 18, Amouranth took to Twitter to announce that Twitch "indefinitely suspended advertising" on her channel without any communication. According to the streamer, she "had to initiate the conversation after noticing, without any prior warning, all the ads revenue had disappeared from [her] Channel Analytics."
Amouranth went on to say that "this is an alarming precedent" as "Twitch has complete discretion to target individual channels and partially or wholly [demonetize] them." In other words, this event may be Twitch making its first move against a number of streamers who live in the gray areas of the terms of service the streaming platform has.
However, because there wasn't any communication from Twitch, no one knows for sure just why Amouranth received the ad suspension. Amouranth hasn't been quiet on the issue. The streamer has already come out this month to tackle some major arguments about the "hot tub meta," a controversial trend in which some streamers have been filming in hot tubs. The Twitch community has been divided over the propriety of hot tub streams and the objectification of women on the platform. Amouranth's comments could be partially responsible for her suspension, given how quickly Twitch suspended advertising.
The hot tub debate rages on
Regardless of why Amouranth's channel was slapped with an advertising suspension, this latest revelation has reignited the debate over the hot tub meta.
Reactions on Twitter were as diverse as opinions on the hot tub meta itself. Some people, including other streamers like LambbChops, assumed the ban was a direct result of the hot tub streams, and many were upset with the stance that Twitch took. One Twitter user worried that the way Twitch went about taking away Amouranth's ad money opens up the door for other streamers to be hit whenever Twitch feels like it.
Others were pleased with Twitch's decision, but still being upset about the way the situation was handled. Twitter user @Jackhammer_Rage was one who argued this point: though he agreed that Twitch should have reached out, he still felt the hot tub content "isn't advertiser friendly," an idea that was mirrored by other users.
Regardless of whether the actions Twitch took were justified, fans still feel that the company is being extremely shady. Twitter user @MilaniHistory summed it up well: "Eventually a competitor to Twitch is going to arise that doesn't treat its creators this way and Twitch is going to sink like a rock."