The U.S. Capitol was overrun today by far-right rioters who championed President Trump’s unsubstantiated claims that Joe Biden’s election was fraudulent. When the building was breached, we did noted that Streamer HasanAbiTwitch’s comments and cable news feeds had become Twitch’s top stream.
The day isn’t over, and Twitch is relevant again for another reason: He responded to a tweet from fighting game personality Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez by removing Twitch’s hugely popular PogChamp emote depicting his face.
By doing TweetGutierrez called for “riot” on behalf of one of the rioters, a woman who was shot dead by law enforcement in the Capitol. Gutierrez referred to her as “#MAGAMartyr” and described her death as an “execution”. Twitch viewed the statement as a call for further violence from the pro-Trump mob.
“We made the decision to remove the PogChamp emote after statements from the emote’s face encouraged further violence after what happened at the Capitol today.” wrote Twitch.
“We want the feeling and use of Pog to live on – its meaning is much greater than the person or image it depicts – and it has a huge place in Twitch culture. We cannot, however, continue to use it in good conscience Enable Pog We’ll be working with the community to come up with a new emote for most of the hype moments on Twitch. “
We’ll be working with the community to craft a new emote for most of the hype moments on Twitch.January 7, 2021
The PogChamp emote was one of the most popular on Twitch and it even spawned merchandise. So far, calls for removal have been ignored in response to Gutierrez’s publication of COVID-related conspiracy theories, but Twitch has become more proactive lately when it comes to blocking things. It is banned the Confederate flag, blackface, and unsolicited sexual comments, as well as the use of words such as “simp” and “incel” when intended as sexually derogatory insults.
according to to NBCThree people were arrested and improvised explosives were found at the Capitol today. Other social media platforms have also taken steps to end inciting post-Capitol speech incitement: Twitter President Trump’s account blocked for 12 hours.
