Twitch has banned the virtual streamer fallenshadow for 30 days. The streamer had spoken about mental health while drinking cream liqueur during the stream. Twitch viewed this behavior as indicating that she might harm herself. The ban is causing unrest in the VTuber community, as virtual content creators feel discriminated against. They believe Twitch hates VTubers.
Who is fallenshadow? She is a virtual streamer on Twitch, appearing not as a person but with a virtual avatar.
fallenshadow has 166,592 followers on Steam and has been on the platform since September 2020. When she streams, about 2,300 people watch her.
Her preferred content includes Just Chatting, Elden Ring, L.A. Noire, and ASMR. These are real ASMR streams and not what Amouranth considers ASMR.
Subscriptions are the basis for many to live off streams, as they ensure a steady income:
Streamer talks about mental health in a sad stream while drinking
What was she banned for? The official reason for the ban is “self-harming behavior.” According to information from Dexerto, she was intoxicated during the stream.
However, the streamer claims that she only drank three glasses of cream liqueur during the stream. The crux seems to be that she appeared “sad” during the stream and spoke about “mental health” while sipping on the liqueur.
For the stream, she received a 30-day ban from Twitch. (Update from September 16, 15:28: On X, fallenshadow provided an update that the ban was lifted early after about 40 hours. In a follow-up piece, MeinMMO will delve deeper into the lifting of the ban tomorrow.)
Update September 17: “Smells like disrespect” – Twitch lets banned streamer back, but the community is still dissatisfied
The message states that Twitch cares about her. If she has problems, she should reach out to someone who can help her, a doctor, or to a hospital. Content that is suicidal or includes self-harming behavior is against Twitch’s rules.
Ban threatens the livelihood of the streamer
This is the particularly insidious part of the ban: The notice from Twitch states that a ban of 30 days or longer results in all subscriptions she has received not automatically renewing but expiring while she is banned.
This is therefore a sensitive attack on the livelihood of the streamer, as monthly subscriptions form the important foundation for her financial survival.
Community believes: Twitch hates ‘VTubers’
This is the discussion: On Twitter, people with anime pictures as avatars are speaking out and feel unfairly treated:
- Gaming streamers can say the worst things on Steam, like “Kill yourself” – nothing ever happens to them.
- But just because someone talks about mental health and drinks something, they receive a 30-day ban. Twitch is clearly saying, “We hate VTubers”.
- Others say Twitch has it out for “her”.
This is the malicious part: Another commentator says it is ridiculous for Twitch to pretend to care about the mental health of the streamer while simultaneously jeopardizing her existence through the ban. That would indeed be much more detrimental to her mental health.
VTubers are a phenomenon on Twitch that forms its own niche. For Twitch streamer Asmongold, VTubing is almost cheating, as anyone can appear as an attractive person on Twitch without having to worry about their looks: Huge Twitch star explains: VTubing is ‘like a hack for female streamers’
