The Twitch streaming site has long been used by several branches of the US Armed Forces as a platform to “make connections” with potential recruits. As such, the US Army esports team was ready to share streams of world-famous games with the platform's viewers. However, it did not always like the questions it was asked in a public chat.
The United States Army has now paused streaming on its Twitch channel following criticism from the public and First Amendment rights campaigners after it banned a number of users who were posing questions related to war crimes allegedly committed by the American military, the New York Times reported.
The news was first revealed by esports analyst Rod Breslau and has been confirmed by a US Army spokesperson, who said that the move was caused by the need to “review internal policies and procedures, as well as all platform-specific policies, to ensure those participating in the space are clear before streaming resumes”.
The US Army esports team, which has been taking part in online battles in Call of Duty, League of Legends, Counterstrike and other legendary games, will now reportedly abstain from participating in upcoming Twitch Rivals events.
The development follows the public scrutiny the Army has been facing in recent weeks, after its Twitch channel's moderators barred a number of social users from the streaming chat. On 8 July, a person named Jordan Uhl asked in a streaming chat “what's your…
