Popular Twitch Streamer DisguisedToast Was Banned After He Streamed 'Death Note'

As streamers are finding out on what seems like a continual basis, Twitch takes its streaming rules and guidelines very seriously. The latest popular streamer to discover how serious Twitch is about its terms was Jeremy Wang, who goes by the handle "DisguisedToast" on Twitch. Jeremy was banned from Twitch on Jan. 10, and many want to know what the reason for the ban was.

No official reason for the ban has been announced, but most suspect that it's the result of a DMCA copyright strike that came from the rights holders of the anime Death Note, which Jeremy streamed before being banned.

It wasn't initially clear how long Jeremy's ban would last, but he recently posted an update on Twitter in which he wrote "Well, I guess I'll see you guys in a month."

Jeremy has not offered many other details on his ban, but he did write "They really couldn't have waited 20 more minutes huh," suggesting that his stream was almost over when the ban came down.

Jeremy's month-long punishment is much longer than some other popular Twitch streamers who have been banned for similar reasons.

On Jan. 7, Imane Anys whose Twitch handle is "Pokimane," was given a 48-hour ban after streaming Avatar: The Last Airbender on her channel. It's unclear why Jeremy's ban is so much longer than Imane's, but Imane was already back on Twitch on Jan. 10, and conducted a 12-hour stream in which Polygon reported that she averaged more viewers than she was accumulating before the ban.

Streaming content and commenting on it has become much more common in recent months on Twitch, and is often referred to as "TV meta." These streams typically garner impressive viewership numbers, but they run the fairly apparent risk of leading to account bans from Twitch after DMCA claims are filed. Jeremy's ban is just the second in a few days, and it seems likely that more could be on the way if copyrights continue to be violated.

Thus far, these kinds of violations haven't led to any permanent bans, but a month is a long time to be banned from a platform, especially if that platform provides you with a source of income. Jeremy's following is likely big enough that he'll be able to survive the ban just fine, and it's possible and perhaps even likely that many fans will be eagerly awaiting his return.

Sometimes, a ban can actually work to increase your notoriety, assuming that you aren't banned for doing something obscene or controversial. The bans that Twitch is handing down are clearly meant to curb the "TV meta" trend, but it's unclear whether they're actually managing to do that.

If the trend continues to become more popular, Twitch will be in a position of having to ban many of its most popular streamers. Once that happens, where will the content come from?