Pokimane has been banned on Twitch following a live DMCA takedown that occurred earlier today while she was watching Avatar: The Last Airbender on her channel.
Reacting to content is nothing new for top Twitch streamers, and Pokimane often watches TV shows in the Just Chatting section of the streaming platform. However, not all content viewed on streams have been approved by the copyright holders.
Certain shows or pieces of content that exist on platforms like YouTube or even certain streaming services have been listed as safe for streamers to watch and react to with their communities. Twitch even has a built in Watch Party feature that can pull approved shows from Amazon Prime right from the Creator Dashboard.
Avatar is not one of these shows, as the critically acclaimed animated series is only available on paid streaming services such as Netflix and Paramount+, or via digital rental methods. So, by watching the show through whatever means live with upwards of 28,0000 average viewers, Pokimane put her channel at risk and was hit with a DMCA takedown, likely from the copyright holder, ViacomCBS.
This takedown came after she followed other streamers’ advice, deleting VODs, clips, and other previous content in hopes of avoiding something like this happening. Another top streamer, Mizkif, was watching Avatar around the same time but ended his stream, cleared the VODs, and swapped content once the DMCA for Poki hit.
It is currently unclear how long this ban will last or if any other punishment will be handed out following the DMCA takedown.
