Multiple Twitch users are claiming that they’re being banned for criticizing popular streamer Alinity Divine’s behavior in a viral video where she appeared to throw her cat during a live stream.
The original controversial incident happened on July 18 when Alinity was live streaming the game Apex Legends. As she played, she shouted “Milo” (the name of her pet cat) as he crawled across her desk off-screen and then proceeded to pick him up and drop him over the back of her chair.
The clip of this incident quickly went viral and many users responded by claiming that it’s an example of animal abuse. Animal rights organizations such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) voiced their concerns and called on Twitch to remove Alinity for posting animal abuse. The Saskatoon Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) also weighed in and said that it has filed a formal cruelty complaint with its animal protection department.
After the initial clip went viral, further old clips from Alinity’s streams started to re-surface which show Alinity feeding her cat vodka and kicking her dog.
https://twitter.com/memequeentwitch/status/1152976464545030144
Alinity has responded to the situation by apologizing for her lapse in judgment.
The conversation around these clips has been divisive with many Twitter users outraged by the clips, others claiming that the clips are being blown out of proportion, and others memeing the incident.
https://twitter.com/thedoomlucky/status/1153119255845638144
However, now it appears that Twitch is starting to censor certain parts of this discussion by taking action against users who have called out Alinity’s actions in the cat throwing clip.
First, the Twitch users falcon5008 claimed that he was permanently banned from a Twitch chatroom for telling some Twitch staff members:
“You should do something about Alinity instead of the nothing you guys are doing.”
After being permanently banned from this chatroom, falcon5008 then said he was suspended from Twitch for seven days for this incident, with Twitch saying he was “Harassing, intimidating, or bullying others.”
https://twitter.com/falcon5008/status/1153032711315034119
Then the Twitch user tenzinniznet said he was indefinitely suspended for sharing a joke video of a cat being thrown on Twitter with the caption “Look at what Alinity taught me.”
Many people are seeing this as yet another example of Twitch’s double standards when it comes to how the site enforces its terms of service against men and women.
https://twitter.com/igorlion12/status/1152440522881085440
https://twitter.com/rassy81057424/status/1153381603885932545
This year, the male streamer TF Blade was suspended for seven days for allegedly using the N-word during a stream, despite his claims that he never said the word and that Twitch misheard what he was saying. Another male Twitch streamer was also reportedly suspended for “hate speech” because he had “Trump” in his username. In addition to this, the popular male Twitch streamer Alfie received a seven-day suspension because one of his fans left a comment with the N-word during his stream and the male Twitch streamer Dr Disrespect was also suspended for two weeks after live streaming from a bathroom.
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