Twitch has banned Dan Saltman, an outspoken critic of the livestreaming platform and host of the “Anything Else?” podcast. The content creator has openly accused Twitch of antisemitism and taken particular offense at Hasan “Hasanabi” Piker not being held accountable by the platform for his anti-Israel livestreams.
Additionally, Saltman has vocally urged advertisers to stop supporting Twitch in light of its alleged antisemitism. Whether the content creator’s pleas have been directly effective is not clear. However, journalist Richard Lewis recently stated that sources at Twitch have confirmed that approximately 11 “corporations and agencies” had suspended their advertising initiatives with the platform.
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On November 21, Saltman revealed that he had been indefinitely suspended from Twitch. The streamer claims that he had been planning on deleting his account anyway and that he was unsurprised by the company’s decision. “It seems that someone was definitely watching my account like a hawk,” said Saltman in a tweet discussing the matter. The content creator had been asking his viewers to be activists and encourage advertisers to abandon Twitch. He had also created websites pointing out the discrepancies in the platform’s moderation decisions, which he claims are founded in racism at the highest levels. “The fact it took this long [to ban me] is almost a ode [sic] to the incompetence of Twitch,” the streamer stated.
Will Asmongold Still Do His Twitch “Exposé” Livestream?
Notably, Saltman was also slated to appear on a livestream with fellow content creator Asmongold, who has been planning to “expose” Twitch. Although Dan Saltman has been calling out some of the company’s employees for racism and even created websites to pressure CEO Dan Clancy to resign, there is apparently still more to be revealed. According to Asmongold, in fact, “some of the most damaging information has not come out yet,” and Saltman believes that his suspension from Twitch was partly to “keep me from speaking with other creators.” It’s now unclear whether Asmongold will go through with the exposé livestream.
Losing advertisers isn’t the only trouble the streaming platform may be dealing with. In November, entrepreneur Elon Musk added Twitch to his ongoing lawsuit against Twitter advertisers. According to the suit, at least 18 companies formed an illegal alliance that conspired to boycott the social media site in November 2022. Twitch, claims Musk, hasn’t purchased ads on Twitter in the United States since that time and has minimally spent advertising dollars on the site in other countries.
However, it hasn’t been only unpleasant happenings for the Amazon-owned company. On November 22, Twitch streamer Kai Cenat has surpassed 500,000 subscribers, thanks in part to his ongoing subathon that began on November 1. No other streamer in history has reached that number, marking a remarkable achievement for the 22 year old.