US Army Uses Twitch To Scam Children, Violate Constitutional Rights

Something you probably didn’t expect to read.

2020 just seems to get stranger and stranger, so why wouldn’t we be talking about the United States Army using Twitch to scam children and violate people’s constitutional rights?

In case you weren’t aware the US Army has a presence on Twitch and has gained a footing in sponsoring esports because of course it does. The United States military has been using video games as a recruiting tool since at least 2002 with the release of the first America’s Army video game. The result is about as shady as you might expect from a military industrial complex being used to attract teenagers.

A few days ago Twitch intervened to stop the Army from scamming Twitch viewers. As it turns out the Army Twitch channel had been hosting fraudulent giveaways for controllers and various other prizes only to direct users to a recruitment form. The controllers didn’t exist, none of the prizes existed. The fake giveaways were likely illegal. So Twitch intervened and put a stop to the giveaways telling Kotaku:

“Per our Terms of Service, promotions on Twitch must comply with all applicable laws. This promotion did not comply with our Terms, and we have required them to remove it.”

Meanwhile the US Army appears to be squashing people’s rights to free speech. The ACLU has taken a public interest in evidence popping up all over that the Army Twitch account is banning users who bring up war crimes committed by the army in Twitch chat. The bans may be a violation of the first amendment freedoms of speech, as a lawsuit against the Trump administration solidified that in cases where the government agency or branch of the military is using social media where people can generally post comments, that deleting/blocking people from comments based on their viewpoints is a violation of the first amendment.

The ACLU has brought numerous cases against governors and officials for violating free speech protections by banning comments based on political ideas. New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has announced plans to file legislation preventing the military from using video games as a recruitment tool by preventing funds from being appropriated to maintain those presences.

For what it’s worth, the Army has stopped streaming and been pretty quiet on social media since the blowback first blew up a couple of weeks ago. This speculation is supported by Rod Breslau who posted “sources tell me due to recent media coverage of fake giveaways and potentially unconstitutional bans, the US Army esports team has paused social activity, streaming on Twitch, and official activations with Twitch including participating in upcoming Twitch Rivals events”.

But who cares when the Army is using anime gifs on Twitter? They’re so relatable!