Ninja calls out Twitch for turning his channel into an ad page, featuring NSFW content (update)

Update August 11, 2019: Twitch has now U-turned, reverting Ninja's channel back to the default offline page.

Update August 12, 2019: Twitch's CEO Emmett Shear has now responded to the controversy, stating that they were testing new systems to surface recommended content in offline channels. Although this doesn't explain why they had included text on Ninja's channel that cryptically referred to the fact he'd moved to Mixer, while hiding all of his channel branding and social links in the process. Twitch's CEO also apologized for the "lewd" content displayed on Ninja's channel, noting that the offending channels had been permanently banned.

Original article:

Last week, Ninja joined Mixer in a serious coup against Amazon's Twitch, leveraging an exclusivity deal with Microsoft. Ninja's presence on Mixer has already been a massive boost to the legitimacy of the platform, but has also helped raise up other Mixer streamers in the process.

It was a huge loss for Twitch, given that Ninja is credited with helping bring live game streaming into the mainstream. The move has legitimized Mixer to some degree, potentially giving Twitch some real competition for the first time. Up until now, Twitch hadn't really reacted to the move, but it has begun abusing Ninja's channel page on Twitch, turning it into an advertisement platform for other recommended streams — a "feature" which exists in no other pages on Twitch.

If that wasn't bad enough, Twitch added insult to injury by recommending a highly NSFW channel on the URL, which is undoubtedly frequented by youngsters. While Twitch is within its right to change its website as it sees fit, the fact it streamed adult content on Ninja's page without any form of age-gating potentially violates various laws. It shows how utterly haphazardly Twitch vomited this new "feature" onto its platform to take advantage of Ninja's dormant Twitch page, recommending streams completely incongruent with Ninja's brand.

We've censored this screencap from @Onyx_Lion (NSFW), which showcases the pornography Twitch failed to screen on its platform below.

Tyler "Ninja" Blevins reacted to the controversy earlier on Twitter, noting that his team had sought to handle his move to Mixer with professionalism, a courtesy that Twitch doesn't seem to want to reciprocate. You can listen to Blevins' statement below.

Twitch has become a factory for controversy in recent years for various reasons, ranging from major partners behaving badly to accusations of operating a double-standards system, allowing its larger stars to avoid sanctions for rule violations. Twitch partners such as Dr. Disrespect have expressed interest in jumping ship to Mixer as well, should they be able to find a similar deal to Ninja.

Mixer has been praised for its positive community, although its far smaller size makes this much easier to manage. It remains to be seen if Mixer can retain its reputation for positivity, but if Twitch keeps screwing up like it is, it shouldn't be too difficult for Mixer to retain pole position in that regard.

• Related: How do Mixer partners feel about Ninja joining the platform?
• Related: Why did Microsoft pick up Ninja?

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