Streamers React To Amouranth's ASMR Ban
Twitch recently demonetized controversial streamer Amouranth for her participation in the hot tub meta, and although her ad revenue was eventually reinstated, it seems she's now stirred up an entirely different form of trouble. Following the issues with demonetization, Amouranth revealed the damage done to her channel and income, then decided to go back to a different Twitch meta: ASMR. While the concept of ASMR is nothing new, streamers like Amouranth put a decidedly spicy spin on the relaxing genre by donning form-fitting leggings and performing activities like licking ear-shaped microphones.
The red haired streamer recently announced she was banned from Twitch after streaming in the ASMR meta, though she didn't provide much information on why. Now, fellow streamers have spoken out about the controversy, predicting dark times for Twitch in the future.
Alinity tried to get to the heart of the issue while streaming with Mizkif. When Mizkif noted that he wanted to get in on the new meta shift, Alinity said, "I think the meta is to try and push sexual behavior as much as you can while pretending like it's not being sexual."
Alinity is no stranger to controversy herself, and even after her cat struck back over past transgressions, the internet can't forget her previous mishandling of her pets, among other things. Alinity and Mizkif joked that they should combine all of the controversial metas into one by doing a group volleyball stream.
Pokimane and xQc chime in
Meanwhile, Pokimane sang into a karaoke mic, saying she called the entire drama with the ASMR meta before it even happened. "It doesn't matter if you make a new section for this or if you ban these individual people," Pokimane said. "They're gonna find another way to push the envelope."
She continued, "It's not specifically hot tubs that were the issue. The issue was that Twitch has no way of categorizing sexually suggestive content ... you're creating an inevitable time bomb for yourself, essentially." Pokimane called creating new metas a "band-aid fix," essentially saying that Twitch was trying to treat symptoms, rather than taking care of the root cause of the controversy. People will, she said, continue to find ways to insert sexual content on Twitch until it creates a better labelling system to flag sexually suggestive content.
xQc also provided his opinion on the drama, calling the entire debacle a "workplace environment thing." xQc pointed out that Twitch often unfairly bans some streamers for bad behavior, then allows others to openly create suggestive content without consequences. However, he concluded, "They're allowed to do whatever they want." Of course, xQc knows a thing or two about bans, as he's been banned many times himself.
Ultimately, Twitch's handling of suggestive content and its constant rule changes continue to be controversial. Above all else, streamers want the company to better handle bans, rule enforcement, and the categorization of sexual content on its platform.