The US Navy has started banning Twitch viewers for asking about war crimes in chat, according to Kotaku. This comes shortly after the US Army Twitch channel also started banning any users that ask about war crimes.
Like the US Army esports channel, the US Navy Twitch channel is a recruitment tool aimed at gamers. The official channel description reads, “Other people will tell you not to stay up all night staring at a screen. We’ll pay you to do it.”
Phrases like “war crimes” and alternate spellings are banned from chat, but viewers who find an alternative way to ask about war crimes or other issues prevalent in the military, like PTSD, will get banned from the channel. The name “Eddie Gallagher” was briefly on the banned word list, as viewers would refer to the Navy SEAL who was turned in by his own platoon for allegedly murdering a prisoner of war and posing with the body.
These bans have sparked further controversy because in the eyes of some, like the ACLU, the bans are unconstitutional. Since the military is an extension of the federal government, banning people for talking about war crimes could be considered a violation of the first amendment.
In addition to the bans, the US Army has also been asked by Twitch to stop promoting seemingly fake giveaways that lead users to a page where they could give recruiters their personal information. A US Army representative said that the giveaways were legitimate but Twitch said that they lacked transparency. The US Army has also banned a number of users posting about war crimes in their Discord channel.
