Former U.S. President Donald Trump had his Twitch account unbanned today, the company announced.
Trump’s Twitch account was indefinitely suspended following the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Three and a half years later, though, the company is reinstating the account as Trump has become the official Republican nominee for president in 2024.
This news was initially shared by reputable insider and reporter Rod “Slasher” Breslau, who wrote in a July 19 tweet that Twitch told him it believes “there is value” in giving presidential nominees a platform and “hearing from [them] directly.” Since Trump has been officially nominated by the Republican party, Twitch is taking action to remedy its previous decision, which was enacted due to an “ongoing risk of further incitement to violence.”
As things stand, the official Donald Trump Twitch channel has been unbanned and is fully functional. It hasn’t uploaded, streamed, or done anything of the sort just yet and retains the look it had all the way back in 2021. If this reinstatement goes down a similar path to Trump’s unbanning from X (formerly Twitter), the former president may refuse to partake in the platform after he was indefinitely suspended from it. Since being removed from most major social media platforms, he’s primarily used his own so-called Truth Social for communication.
Twitch has also reiterated that Trump’s account will fall under the same rules as anyone else and that the company has no “public figure policy” to protect particular individuals from the Community Guidelines. The account will be “monitored the same as everyone else,” according to Slasher, and will not be treated with any privileges.
