Veteran WoW streamer has Twitch ban overturned after week of confusion
Update (Monday, January 26 – 7 PM PT): After almost a week-long ban on Twitch, Ziqo’s account was restored on January 26. Unfortunately, the popular streamer still has no idea why the ban came through in the first place.
“I’m free, thank you so much everyone,” he shared shortly after regaining access to his Twitch profile. Six days and six hours later, his first ban on the streaming platform was rescinded, though the situation was still just as confusing. https://twitter.com/Ziqoftw/status/1353849190644936705 “I was never given any context, I was never given a clip,” he added in a follow-up YouTube video. “I was ignored in every attempt at trying to find out why I’d been banned. I feel like I haven’t been heard. This is my first suspension ever, I just want to make sure that my side of the story is heard.” With the outpouring of support from the community, Ziqo’s case became a hot topic. “Eventually, it gained a lot of traction and I received a response [from Twitch]. “After reviewing this enforcement, we have determined that [the ban] was issued incorrectly,” the statement from Twitch explained. Despite the punishment being reverted, there was still no reason provided as to what caused the ban in the beginning.The original story continues below.
On January 19, World of Warcraft creator Mohamed ‘Ziqo’ Beshir announced he would be unable to stream for several days. He later confirmed his account was suspended by Twitch, but claimed the ban came without explanation or warning.
The creator then explained how went back to his old streams to find something that might explain the ban. “I keep replaying my streams over in my head grasping for straws,” he said. He was unable to pinpoint a reason for the ban, and said “I really feel so bad right now left in the dark.”
Ziqo banned for ‘hateful speech and slurs’
Shortly after announcing the news, Ziqo put out a video on YouTube where he revealed he had since heard from Twitch that the suspension was for 7 days for breaking Twitch TOS by “using a hateful slur during a VOD.”
https://youtu.be/AOGH1Yu0EJw Despite informing him where he could appeal the suspension, Twitch could not point him to a specific clip or instance where Ziqo was caught breaking TOS, according to him. “They told me it could be anything, honestly. In that policy it could be that I did a “hateful” symbol, it could be because I was stretching and they said ‘that’s a Nazi symbol, you’re banned,'” the streamer speculated. “It could be I left my chat open in WoW and somebody said something, it could be I said something. I highly doubt that since I never say these things in general, but it could be, I’m open to the possibility, maybe I slipped up.
Twitch CEO explains how they deal with high-profile bans after Hasan suspension
Asmongold says Twitch should only ban streamers if they break the law
Sliker banned on Twitch mere hours after 2-year ban was lifted
The platform’s policies on banning streamers have beencriticized by the community many timesfor their ambiguity, and it seems this is just another case to add to the ever-expanding file. One big problem with the way Ziqo feels his suspension has been handled is that since Twitch hasn’t told him exactly what it is that got him banned, he can’t look out for it and avoid it in the future. Either way, he says he plans on returning to stream as soon as his suspension ends.
