A court has ruled in favor of the Twitch streamer James “Phantoml0rd” Varga in a lawsuit. He had sued Twitch because they banned him in 2016. Now he has won, but Twitch seems unbothered by it. They dismiss the defeat as a “formal error” that has long been corrected.
What was the process about? Phantoml0rd became a major streamer on Twitch with Counter-Strike and LoL until his account was banned in 2016.
Twitch never officially stated the reasons for this ban, just as they generally do not comment on bans. However, from a countersuit by Twitch against Varga, it appears that it was related to Varga’s involvement with a betting site that violated Twitch’s guidelines. He allegedly manipulated jackpots to lure viewers away from Twitch.
Varga demanded 35 million dollars in damages from Twitch. A court had allowed him in 2019 to sue Twitch for a high amount. Originally, the amount was capped in a contract at 50,000 $.
This is how the trial ended: Varga actually won the trial after years (MeinMMO reported). He is awarded 20,720 $:
- 15,3138 $ relate to the first 30 days he would have made after the ban
- 3,060 $ for lost donations
- 2,521 $ for lost advertising deals
This is how Varga reacts: He celebrates this as a big win over Twitch on Twitter.
Twitch fully supports the ban
This is how Twitch reacts: Twitch believes that the jury only convicted them due to a “formal error” related to the ban. They share this in a statement to PC Gamer (via PCGamer).
They regret this formal error. However, they see no reason to allow Phant0mlord back on the platform. They claim he “repeatedly violated Twitch’s guidelines and exposed the community to harmful content.”
In the meantime, they have implemented a better ban policy and clarified everything, thus fearing no further lawsuits.
However, nothing further will happen to Varga – Twitch’s countersuit was rejected.
What’s behind this: Some had hoped that after Varga’s victory, something would change in Twitch’s ban and transparency policy, especially in the case of “Dr Disrespect”. But that doesn’t seem to be the case now.
Twitch makes it clear that the trial will have no impact on them. They dismiss the defeat as a mere formal error that has long been smoothed over.
Interestingly, Twitch claims they have improved their ban process. However, the ban policy is still under criticism:
