Over three years ago, Twitch decided to ban ex-president Donald Trump from Twitch out of concern that he would try to launch more violent attempts to take over power in the US like on January 6, 2021.
At the time Twitch said: “We have indefinitely suspended President Trump’s Twitch channel due to the ongoing risk of further incitement of violence”, which was actually the second time he was suspended. The first was a temporary ban in 2020, when Trump rebroadcasted a stream of a 2016 speech in which he referred to Mexicans as “rapists”.
Now, however, Twitch has apparently changed its stance and Trump’s account has been reinstated, reported by Techcrunch and others via Threads. Twitch themselves justify the decision as follows (via Rod Breslau):
“We reinstated former President Trump’s channel. We believe there is value in hearing from Presidential nominees directly, when possible. Trump is now the official Republican nominee for US president.”
What do you think about the decision, is it the right thing to do for Twitch or should the decisions based on Trump’s past behavior have justified a continued suspension?