Pokimane banned on Twitch amid DMCA drama following Avatar stream

Imane ‘Pokimane’ Anys is the first big scalp of Twitch’s DMCA drama, with the long-time streamer being hit with a 48-hour ban mid-way through a 10-hour Avatar: The Last Airbender watchparty on January 7.

Twitch’s DMCA dramas have moved on from music to TV shows, and now the platform’s first big scalp has been claimed: Pokimane.

The popular streamer was streaming a 10-hour Avatar: The Last Airbender watchparty to tens of thousands of fans ⁠— mirrored to try and skirt the system ⁠— only to get taken off the platform entirely on January 7.

❌ Twitch Partner "pokimane" (@pokimanelol) has been banned! ❌https://t.co/PpSflfhk6I#twitch #ban #firstban #partner #twitchpartner 🎾

— StreamerBans (@StreamerBans) January 8, 2022

Her 8.5 million follower Twitch profile is nowhere to be found on the platform, instead rerouting to a 404 page.

Pokimane’s ban comes after the rise of TV show and movie reaction content on Twitch. xQc, Mizkif, and others have gone viral watching Masterchef as well as Avatar, even as fellow streamers like Sodapoppin and Ludwig warn of the dangers of DMCA.

Sykkuno, who was live during the ban, found it surprising Pokimane was the only streamer targeted so far. While Anys was streaming Avatar, Mizkif had just finished his binge and was watching Masterchef.

“I don’t want to be that dude, but Mizkif streamed Avatar too. Does that mean he gets banned? I’m snitching on him — but he streamed it to like 50,000 people,” Sykkuno said.

The ban has also prompted other stars like Jeremy ‘Disguised Toast’ Wang to delete their VODs and clips to try and protect themselves from any DMCA bans.

Pokimane took the ban in jest though, tweeting out an iconic line on Twitter following the takedown: “The fire nation attacked.”

the fire nation attacked

— pokimane (@pokimanelol) January 8, 2022

Pokimane has also confirmed her suspension will last 48 hours, with a big “12 hour comeback stream” planned for Monday, January 10.

However, it’s likely Pokimane won’t be the last streamer struck down by DMCA during Twitch’s latest meta.

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