Twitch temporarily suspends Donald Trump for "hateful conduct"

On the 29th of June, 2020, Twitch officially announced that the company has temporarily suspended US President Donald Trump’s Twitch account for violating the company’s hateful conduct rules.

“Hateful conduct is not allowed on Twitch,” a Twitch representative said (via Business Insider). “In line with our policies, President Trump’s channel has been issued a temporary suspension from Twitch for comments made on stream, and the offending content has been removed.”

As Business Insider reports, Twitch also provided two examples of “offending conduct” from Trump’s campaign speeches, with the first coming from a rally in 2015:

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” he said. “They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

The other example came from a campaign event in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on June 20th:

“It’s 1 o’clock in the morning, and a very tough — I’ve used the word, on occasion, ‘hombre’ — a very tough hombre is breaking into the window of a young woman whose husband is away as a traveling salesman or whatever he may do,” Trump said. “And you call 911, and they say, ‘I’m sorry, this number’s no longer working.'”

Twitch’s Hateful Conduct and Harassment policies are fairly clear, stating that the company “[doesn’t] tolerate conduct that encourages or condones hate or harassment in any way. Ignorance is not an acceptable excuse for conduct that results in hate or harassment.”

You can read the entire section regarding Hateful Conduct below.

Hateful conduct is any content or activity that promotes, encourages, or facilitates discrimination, denigration, objectification, harassment, or violence based on the following characteristics, and is strictly prohibited: 

• Race, ethnicity, or national origin
• Religion
• Sex, Gender, or Gender Identity
• Sexual Orientation
• Age
• Disability or Serious Medical Condition
• Veteran Status

Twitch will consider a number of factors to determine the intent and context of any reported hateful conduct. Hateful conduct is a zero-tolerance violation. We will take action on all accounts associated with such conduct with a range of enforcement actions, including and up to indefinite suspension.

Twitch did not mention how long the suspension will last.