ProfessionalCounter-Strike: Global Offensiveplayer Oleksandr Kostyliev, also known as “s1mple,” received his second ban from Twitch this year after a stream he hosted earlier this month violated the site’s community guidelines.
S1mple, who plays for esports organization Natus Vincere’sCounter-Strike: Global Offensivecompetitive team, wastemporarily booted from Twitchin August for calling a friend a pejorative Russian slang term for a gay man on stream. The Ukrainian streamer, who is considered one of the world’s most skilledCS:GOplayers, had his channel reinstated last time, but has been suspended again. The streamer did not cite the specific reason for the suspension, but it appears to be for the same offense.
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The streamer took to Twitter to express his frustration with the ban Friday, pointing to his suspension as being indicative ofdouble standards on Twitchand criticizing the site for failing to consider the setting where the word was used. S1mple also expressed a desire to terminate his partnership with Twitch, noting that he was unable to do so without access to his channel.
The incident comes as just one of a multitude of bans and suspensions to hit prominent Twitch streamers lately, includingone ban placed erroneously on user PayMoneyWubbyearlier this month. While remaining as the most dominant player in the video game streaming industry, the Amazon-owned service has struggled to keep viewers and streamers' needs satisfied, leading prominent users to move elsewhere. Fans of s1mple have noted that the streamer could make the jump to another service, though whether or not he decides toleave Twitchis to be determined.
While the context of what s1mple said on the stream is clearly important to determining whether or not he actually deserved to receive a suspension for violatingTwitch’s community guidelines, if the incident proved to be for the same reason as the last time, the streamer’s repeated use of offensive language would justify disciplinary action from the service, even if it were in the context of a joke. Viewers may end up having different opinions on how Twitch handles occurrences of slurs and pejoratives on its platform, but the personalities present on the service have an obligation to choose the right words to say regardless of whether or not their channels are at stake for it.
