In the past week, a series of puzzling events have plagued the VTuber community on Twitch. Several VTubers have found themselves abruptly banned, often for reasons that seem murky at best. Among those affected is Zentreya, a talent from the popular group VShojo.
What’s truly baffling is that some bans appear to be influenced by the uproar from the Twitch community. FallenShadow, or Shondo to her fans, was initially banned under accusations of promoting self-harm behavior. However, Twitch later reversed this decision, yet maintained they were justified in the first place.
This inconsistency has sparked frustration among VTubers, who feel subjected to double standards. It seems that while streams featuring real-life female streamers often slide under Twitch’s radar, those involving anime-styled VTubers are held to stricter scrutiny. One VTuber humorously suggested that they might need to superimpose their animated heads onto bikini-clad bodies to navigate Twitch’s unpredictable moderation practices.
Even Twitch’s own Ambassadors are scratching their heads over these sudden policy shifts, despite some of them being VTubers themselves. These ambassadors, however, aren’t included in the loop regarding these moderation decisions.
It’s also notable that Hololive, the world’s largest VTuber company, primarily opts to stream on YouTube, perhaps to avoid these very issues.
The evolving situation on Twitch has left VTubers and their fans on edge, raising questions about fairness and transparency in the platform’s moderation.
