Posted on December 14, 2021

Hasan Piker Banned From Twitch for Saying ‘Cracker’

Gita Jackson and Matthew Gault, Vice, December 14, 2021

{snip} Hasan Piker, left wing streamer, says that he was banned from Twitch for using the “anti-white” term “cracker”

{snip} Piker was banned after signing off from a December 13 stream where he discussed the word “cracker” following the banning of two of his moderators who used the word.

“I’ve been called a cracker more times than every single one of you fucking pasty little cracker bitches in my chat, OK,” Piker said during the livestream. “Stop crying about this fucking term, OK? Recognize that the person who is calling you a fucking cracker is literally powerlessthey’re doing it someone whose been historically oppressed blowing off steam.”

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{snip} Earlier this week, libertarian streamer Vaush and New Zealand streamer Fawn were also banned for, they believe, for saying cracker.

Twitch has not clarified whether it believes cracker is a slur. According to Twitch’s Terms of Service, “using hateful slurs, either untargeted or directed towards another individual,” is grounds for removal from the site. “We allow certain words or terms, which might otherwise violate our policy, to be used in an empowering way or as terms of endearment when such intent is clear. We also make exceptions for slurs in music—and singing along to music—as long as the song itself is not hateful and the slurs are not combined with other discriminating or denigrating content.”

Twitch plays fast and loose when defining what, exactly, can and can’t be said on the platform. “We’ve had questions about the use of the N word on Twitch. Use with a hard R is not allowed, period. We also automatically block the word across Twitch including in chat,” it said in a Tweet in 2020. “Additionally, regardless of spelling or pronunciation, slurs used for the purpose of hate or harassment are not allowed.”

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