Equal and More Equal on Twitch; Website had a List of 'Unbannable' Streamers
Another consequence of the Twitch data leak - we got to known the list of streamers who could avoid being banned even if they violated the rules.
- After the leak of data from Twitch, the so-called "do not ban list" came to light;
- This is a list of streamers who could avoid being automatically banned in cases of minor violations of the rules;
- The document most likely dates back to 2015 and includes nicknames such as Tyler1.
After the recent hacker attack on Twitch.tv, which leaked a bunch of data from the well-known website, everyone focused on streamer earnings. But there's a lot more to the data that was made public. A so-called "do not ban list", containing the nicknames of many popular users, also came to light. It seems that people on the list were able to avoid being banned even after violating the rules. Among them is Tyler1, a popular League of Legends streamer known for his short temper.
The list does not include any creators who are currently on the twitch top. The reason is simple - the list is from around 2015, when other people were celebrities and the reality of the platform was completely different from today.
source: Twitch
According to The Washington Post, the list was supposed to work in connection with a tool called Better Desk (which has already gone out of use). Twitch administrators used it when someone reported people who were on the list - but those users were not completely free of responsibility. Anonymous Twitch employees have argued that it was more about initial moderation and determining whether an offense actually deserved a ban or is nothing more than a minor violation of the rules or a misunderstanding.
The "do not ban" listenabled administrators to determine when to refrain from automatically banning offenders, and to refer the matter to other Twitch employees.
"It was a way to quickly put a banner up to the admins on duty so they wouldn’t just blindly ban another admin or a prominent staff [member] for something dumb," said an anonymous Twitch employee to The Washington Post.
In a nutshell: some creators that were popular a few years ago were allowed a little more than others. In 2015, Twitch was banning non-gaming content, for example. Something that today would go into the "Just Chatting" category in Twitch IRL used to be banned a few years ago. In all likelihood, for a good portion of the streamers on the list, it was all about turning a blind eye to non-gaming content.
So far no one from Twitch management has commented on the whole issue.
