US Army stands down from Twitch amid fake giveaways and war crimes controversies

Saying the United States Military started its Twitch presence with the left foot is an understatement.

Already being criticised for trying to lure young impressionable gaming fans into their organisation, the use of fake giveaways and banning users asking questions about war crimes has pushed the US Army to put their presence on hold for the foreseeable future.

(Picture: U.S. Army / Twitch)

According to esports insider Rod "Slasher" Breslau, the US Army esports team has decided to postpone further activities on Twitch amid the controversies surrounding the organisation in recent weeks. 

“Sources tell me due to recent media coverage of fake giveaways and potentially unconstitutional bans, the US Army esports team has paused social activity, streaming on Twitch, and official activations with Twitch including participating in upcoming Twitch Rivals events.”

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Slasher would add in a series of tweets that both Twitch and the US Army and Navy will maintain their partnership, but we're probably not going to hear from them until Spring 2021, at the earliest.

The New York representative has filed a draft amendment to the House Appropriations bill, stating that neither the US Army nor Navy will be able to use funds to “maintain a presence on Twitch.com (sic) or any video game, e-sports, or live-streaming platform.”
 
According to Vice, the House Appropriations Committee will meet next July 27 to discuss the pending amendments that will make it to the bill.

While the entire ordeal settles, Twitch has been dealing with issues involving high profile streamers once again as League of Legends personality Hashinshin was permanently banned from the platform after engaging in “inappropriate conversations with teenage women.”