In December 2018, a man made headlines for hitting his wife during a Fortnite stream. Now he was allowed to stream again on Twitch, but not for long. The outrage from viewers was so great that Twitch had to take action.
This is what happened: The story outraged the Fortnite community and beyond in early December.
The Australian streamer Luke “MrDeadMoth” Munday was recording a round of Fortnite when his wife, as he believed, annoyed him. She called for him to come. The streamer repeatedly told her to be quiet and leave him alone. The woman continued to call him and at one point threw a cardboard box at him. The argument escalated.
Eventually, the streamer jumped up and a loud slap was heard live on the stream, followed by the woman’s screams. She accused him of having hit a pregnant woman. Everyone out there should know that.
The streamer had apparently hit his wife live on stream while two young children were still in the room.
This is how the authorities and Twitch reacted: The community reacted with horror to this stream and reported it to the Australian authorities. The Australian police quickly took Munday into custody. The authorities issued a restraining order stating that he was not to approach his wife.
Twitch also reacted and suspended his account.
But now the streamer was back and started his Fortnite livestreams again at the end of December.
This is why the streamer came back
This is how the return was: When MrDeadMoth’s stream went back online at the end of December, many viewers were speechless.
Why was Munday allowed to stream again and why did Twitch not do anything about it?
Warning: The video contains scenes that may be disturbing to some:
This is why he was able to stream again: Twitch placed a 14-day suspension on Munday’s account. Once this suspension was over, MrDeadMoth could stream again without any issues.
This is what Twitch’s guidelines say: Twitch’s guidelines are somewhat complicated. Accounts are generally not permanently suspended after the first offense, but are first given a temporary suspension. In Munday’s case, this was 14 days.
Only if a streamer has multiple offenses does Twitch impose a lifetime ban on the account.
The viewers are speechless
This is how viewers reacted: The Twitch community could not believe that the streamer showed up on Twitch again.
On one hand, it is not clear why Twitch did not permanently ban this account. On the other hand, many viewers find it audacious that Munday dares to get back in front of the camera.
On Twitter, “saucybgames” writes: “As a survivor of domestic violence, it’s great to see that a streamer who hit his wife can still stream on Twitch with 7000+ viewers! This sends the right message.”
Other Twitter users, like “MANICM0DE” respond sarcastically to the streamer: “Hey Twitch, my wife allowed me to hit her in a livestream. Can you help me get media attention so I can gain 300,000 followers too?”
A shitstorm erupted against MrDeadMoth on Twitch and Twitter, with many streamers and viewers demanding that Munday finally disappear from Twitch.
Viewers apparently felt:
- that Twitch’s punishment was far too lenient
- and that the streamer had even benefited from hitting his wife and gained attention
Twitch reacted and suspended the account
This is how Twitch reacted: The people in charge of Twitch listened to the complaints from the community for a few days before finally reacting. They suspended MrDeadMoth’s account again.
If you now want to access the streamer’s profile, you will be shown that this account is no longer available.
In a conversation with the website Kotaku, a Twitch spokesperson said: “The protection of our community’s integrity is incredibly important to us. We want everyone on Twitch to have a safe and positive experience and are constantly working towards this goal. Part of this work involves reviewing our policies and practices when we find that they do not effectively address certain incidents, to ensure that we adapt to the growth of the Twitch community.”
The community is pleased: The streamer “BlackLiteAttack” comments on Twitter about how Twitch handled the situation: “That’s why it’s important to call them out on social media. Don’t approach individual employees and harass them, just express dissatisfaction. Stay vigilant for the next mistakes, as Twitch doesn’t have the infrastructure to handle this alone.”
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