Ludwig Uses Second YouTube Channel To Admit He Got Pokimane Banned On Twitch
Shockwaves were sent across the streaming community when Twitch favourite Imane "Pokimane" Anys received her first ever ban from the platform. Now, YouTuber Ludwig "Ludwig" Ahgren has held his hands up and taken the blame.
It's a precarious time on Twitch at the moment, with streamers trying to navigate their way around the Amazon-owned platform's DMCA rules. Recently, Twitch has been clamping down on the 'TV show meta' that has been doing the rounds, in which streamers film their reaction to TV shows and films. In the process, content creators could stream an entire film or TV series to their viewers without having to pay copyright fees.
YouTuber Ludwig, however, warned that the meta could have a "catastrophic" effect on Twitch streaming with content creators putting themselves at risk of being banned or even causing all copyrighted media to be banned altogether. Although he was heavily criticised by some, including Twitch's top dog Felix "xQc" Lengyel, it seems Ludwig's warnings were right as Pokimane became the latest creator to be banned from Twitch.
Why Was Pokimane Banned From Twitch?
On January 8, Pokimane was livestreaming the classic animated TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender when she was hit with a ban from Twitch for breaching DMCA copyright rules. While the ban only lasted for 48 hours, fans were shocked given how this is the first time she has ever been banned since joining the platform in June 2013. Not to mention, the news sent hearts were sent racing across the streaming community, given how so many high-profile streamers have been watching copyrighted material during their streams, with MasterChef and Kitchen Nightmares being particular favourites. So, many were left wondering who could be next.
Yet, Pokimane took the ban in her stride and announced on Twitter that she was going to do a "12 hour comeback stream" when she returned to Twitch on January 10. She also didn't seem to fazed by the ban saying she wasn't "surprised and i don't think this is unfair. imo, it was inevitable that publishers would take action, on me or someone else, during this react meta." Pokimane may have been worried she would face a ban after stumbling on an explicit episode of Food Wars, but it seems that the recent ban for Avatar didn't hit her too hard.
Why Is Ludwig To Blame For Pokimane Getting Banned From Twitch?
It seems that the ban can't be completely thrown on Pokimane's shoulders as YouTuber Ludwig has admitted that he is also partly to blame for the ban. In fact, some even believe Ludwig is the reason behind Twitch's crackdown on the TV show meta altogether. However, Ludwig wasn't afraid to hold his hands up and admit that his video 'React Streamers have gone too far...' may have led to Pokimane being banned. For many fans, this was because he brought media companies attention to creators livestreaming their content and forcing streams to be shut down.
In an unusual move, the 26-year-old took to his second YouTube channel Mogul Mail and posted a video called 'I Got Pokimane Banned...'. In the video, Ludwig that he was avoided using his main channel because he was being called a "nark" and bringing attention to Twitch's DMCA issues to "FOX and Viacom execs". He claimed that, as a result of his original video, "Pokimane got banned live for watching Avatar". As to how she banned, Ludwig speculated: "This was manually done by someone at Viacom, or perhaps a certain episode she watched triggered some system that they have, and she got taken down." Ludwig was also confused as to how Matthew "Mizif" Rinaudo could also be livestreaming Avatar at the same time and not get banned.
Pokimane's Twitch channel is, as of writing, up and running again. However, as Twitch continues with its DMCA crackdown, only time will tell whether other streamers could be hit with a sudden ban.
