Pogchamp, one of the most popular emote on Twitch, was just removed from the platform permanently. The decision was made after its real-life face, fighting game personality Ryan “Gootecks” Gutierrez, used social media to "encourage violence". While this is on a completely unrelated platform - Twitch has gone out of its way banning things it deems "problematic" before.

Twitch Pogchamp Ban

Encouraging violence?

This is all about politics, with people and organizations taking sides - the conflict of the American Election is still ongoing. After a violent takeover of Capitol Hill by Trump supporters, Gutierrez, the face of Pogchamp, has asked his followers to continue the "civil unrest" while mentioning the name of a woman who died during the riot. He also encourages his followers to watch a video related to her passing.

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What happened afterward?

Twitch is a company and they always strive to avoid conflict by following people's demands. Many top gaming personalities quickly banned the PogChamp emote from their channels to avoid further complications... and soon afterward, Twitch slams down the hammer.

According to Twitch tracking service StreamElements, PogChamp was the fifth most-used expression on the live streaming site... and it was amongst the first emotes ever to be added to the site. In a later tweet, Twitch acknowledges this and tell people that they would be working to create a new emote for "hype" to replace Pogchamp. Fans' reaction to the ban is fairly mild, with most people posting jokes and emotes.

In related news, President Donald Trump has also been temporarily suspended from Twitter for 12 hours, after posting a tweet encouraging his followers to continue the Capitol Hill civil unrest.