The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, has criticized the United States Army’s decision to ban Twitch users as “unconstitutional.” The comments came following several reports this week that theUS Army has been banning users on Twitch and Discordfor posting messages about war crimes.
On Twitter, the ACLU responded to reports about the US Army banning people on Twitch and Discord, saying that “calling out the government’s war crimes isn’t harassment, it’s speaking truth to power.” The ACLU, which hasstrong support from companies in the games industry, also said that “banning users who ask important questions isn’t ‘flexing,’ it’s unconstitutional.” The line about “flexing” is a reference to Green Beret and US Army Esports streamer Joshua “Strotnium” David who said on-stream that he would use the cutesy “UwU” emoji to “flex” on users posting about war crimes in Twitch chat.
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The section of the United States Constitution that seems to have been violated here is the First Amendment, which protects the right to free speech. While platforms like Xbox Live do not have to allow all language under free speech as it is owned by a private company, members of the government are bound by the amendment.
In July 2019, the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that President Trump’s Twitter account is a public forum, meaning that he is not permitted to block users. The US Army Esports team, as a branch of government conducting business in a public forum, would seem to be bound by the same rules.
The discovery that the US Army may not be able to block people on Twitch and Discord will feel like a huge win to critics of the military’s growing actions in the games industry. TheUS Army Esports Twitter faced huge backlashlast week when it sent an “UwU” tweet to Discord. This led to US Army Esports Twitch and Discord ban speedruns being posted on social media.
It’s unclear whether the ACLU, which is now part of a lawsuit in theBlack Lives Matter movement against police brutality, curfews, and other issues about racial injustice, will launch a legal challenge over this. Making it known that the US Army Esports may be violating the constitution could be enough to prevent further Twitch and Discord bans, without it having to go further.
