Twitch bans VTuber Projekt Melody in bizarre twist

In one of the most confusing stories in the history of Twitch partnerships, the VTuber Projekt Melody has been banned and unpartnered from the platform, less than a year after it was surprisingly partnered in the first place.

Back in March 2020, Projekt Melody came over to Twitch – bringing with her a brand of suggestive and innuendo-filled content.

The nature and contents of the streams were obvious to anyone, and so when the channel became a partnered before even doing a single stream, it was thought a deal had been struck with the platform.

Projekt Melody then grew a substantial following on Twitch, thanks in part to hosts from established broadcasters, including Sodapoppin, one of the most-followed streamers.

Projekt Melody banned from Twitch

The account had accrued almost 300,000 followers, and was ranked in the top 50 most-watched English-speaking ‘Just Chatting’ channels on the platform, according to Twitch Metrics.

But, the account was inexplicably banned on November 4, and its partnership status revoked. The latter often indicates that the ban is indefinite, though this cannot be confirmed at the time of writing.

ℹ️ Twitch Streamer "projektmelody" is no longer partnered with Twitch! ℹ️https://t.co/L5uCYOAYci#twitch #unpartner 😌

— StreamerBans (@StreamerBans) November 4, 2020

But, there’s another twist. This is not actually the account’s first suspension. It was previously banned for three days in March – the day after it was partnered.

During her very first stream on the platform – during which she gained over 50,000 followers – and said “I want to be respectful of the platform, while also feeling sexy.”

But, the decision to partner this channel before it had even done a single stream was an odd choice from Twitch at the time, given the nature of Projekt Melody’s content – and the other sites where you might typically find it streaming.

These ‘virtual influencers’ have been increasing in popularity in 2020, particularly due to the global health crisis.

Others include League of Legends’ Seraphine, and this totally virtual Instagram influencer, Imma.

The length or reason for Projekt Melody’s ban is currently unknown. Twitch does not comment on community guidelines violations to respect the privacy of users – even virtual ones.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pbHXnqmtp16YvK57xKernqqklravucSnq2isp57BpLSMm5inq12rwbauxKtkqaqfn7KswIymnKWnlK56qrqMm6CzmaKnsm7A1qKqrWVhaYF3gZNwZg%3D%3D