Twitch suspends popular streamers after use of homophobic language

Two of Twitch's more popular streamers say they've been suspended by the video game streaming service, apparently as part of a crackdown on offensive and hateful content on the platform.

Destiny and M0E, who Polygon notes have reputations for using language their audiences find amusing despite its offensive nature, said recently they received 30-day suspensions after using the homophobic slur "faggot" during their streams. Many social platforms have cracked down on the use of offensive language in recent years, not just to avoid alienating users but also to not incite real-world violence.

Destiny wasn't sure if the use of that word specifically landed him the suspension but pointed to two uses of language that violate Twitch's community guidelines against hateful content and inciting violence.

"I was given two reasons for why I was banned," Destiny said in a YouTube video posted Sunday. "The first one was because I called the one dude a bad word. I called him the F-word. ... I said the F-word, and called him a retard or whatever. Apparently that was bad. But they also clipped the thing where I was talking to my mom and I said, 'Holy shit, maybe they should just fucking shoot Cubans who were swimming over to the US or something or what my mom wanted to do to Mexicans or whatever.'"

M0E says he was also suspended for 30 days after using the same homophobic slur.  M0E defended his use of the word "faggot" as a replacement for the word "retard."

"I'm going to try and stop using the word 'faggot,' but it's one of my favorite words of all time," M0E said in a video. "It's not offensive. It has a lot of different meanings."

A Twitch representative said the platform doesn't comment on terms-of-service violations out of respect for the privacy of its users.

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