Streamer Hasan Piker responds after Twitch bans him for 'improper handling of terrorist propaganda'

Streamer Hasan Piker has responded after Twitch banned him for the ‘improper handling of terrorist propaganda’.

The popular streamer has spoken out after he was banned from the platform on Sunday (May 25).

Piker, who is known for his videos on political commentary, took to X, formerly Twitter, to confirm that he had received a ‘global suspension’ on his Twitch account.

Piker shared a screenshot of the notice from the streaming platform on social media, where it stated that his account was being suspended for the ‘improper handling of terrorist propaganda’.

This included ‘showing a violent extremist manifesto on stream while denouncing it’ and ‘speaking out against terrorist organizations while displaying a recruitment video’.

Along with the screenshot, Piker wrote: “I covered the motives of the Israeli embassy staff shooter. Twitch ToS dictates a suspension for even critical examination of the manifesto. I believe this is a bad policy for news and press freedom.

“I'll take the suspension, but hope Twitch changes this policy in the future.”

While it was not clear how long the ban of his account would last for, Piker was reinstated on to Twitch on May 26, with his suspension lasting just over a day.

Celebrating his return, Piker posted a meme on X that read: “I lived b***h.”

According to the community guidelines on the Twitch website, it reads: “Terrorism and violent extremism promote unlawful violence and spread messages of intolerance. Twitch does not allow content that depicts, glorifies, encourages, or supports terrorism, or violent extremist actors or acts. This includes threatening to or encouraging others to commit acts that would result in serious physical harm or significant property destruction.”

For example, streamers are not permitted to ‘display or link terrorist or extremist propaganda, including graphic pictures or footage of terrorist or extremist violence, even for the purposes of denouncing such content’.

According to StreamerBans, Piker has faced a total of six bans during his time on Twitch since July 2019.

His longest ban lasted seven days both in August 2019 and December 2021.

This is Piker’s second ban of the year so far, with his first one happening in March and lasting for one day.

Earlier this month, the streamer claimed that he was stopped by ICE agents at the airport as he re-entered the US.

Piker recalled how he faced questioning over his content and his thoughts on President Trump.

The streamer said that he told the agent, ‘I don’t like Trump. What are you going to do? It’s protected by the First Amendment. I don’t like Trump’.