Twitch Bans occur fairly regularly, with numerous streamers occasionally being placed in the timeout box. Although slapping is common, permanent bans are rare. Dan Saltman, a prominent online streaming community figure and political streamer, finds himself on the wrong side of the Twitch rulebook.

As usual, this ban sparked some debate about the platform’s moderation policies. Saltman is known for his controversial views, particularly on anti-Semitism on the platform. In recent weeks, Dan has been pointing fingers at Twitch and accusing it of complicity in anti-Semitism, so it’s not entirely surprising that Twitch is bringing the hammer down on him.

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The details behind Dan “Dancanstream” Saltman’s ban

On November 21, 2024, Dan Saltman announced that he was indefinitely suspended (also known as permanently banned) from Twitch on X, formerly Twitter. He expressed little surprise at the ban and suggested he had long foreseen the consequences of his not-so-subtle criticism. In the tweet, which he posted in the early hours of the same day, he claimed he was in the process of deleting his account and had made a data request in preparation for the ban.

“It seems that someone has definitely been watching my account like a hawk,” he said on the matter, suggesting that the timing of the ban was more than a coincidence. His tweet also included a screenshot of an email from Twitch that cited extreme harassment as the reason for his indefinite suspension. Of particular interest was the third point, which provided an example of unlawful behavior: “Devoting your stream to maliciously raiding and harassing others.”

Saltman’s longstanding criticism of Twitch may have led to the ban

Saltman has been an outspoken critic of Twitch over its handling of sensitive content from creators. Hasan “HassanAbi” Piker is one such example, whom Saltman accuses of promoting anti-Israel sentiment without receiving appropriate consequences from the platform. His criticism extended to calling on advertisers to reconsider their support for Twitch and claiming that the platform harbors anti-Semitic tendencies.

Since then, an exposé by journalist Richard Lewis revealed that around 11 agencies had suspended their advertising programs on Twitch, according to an inside source. There was also the incident earlier this year when Dan Saltman and Destiny insinuated that Twitch was intentionally blocking new users from Israel from signing up. However, in an apology statement after resolving the issue, the platform said it was an unfortunate mistake.

Saltman is also very vocal in his criticism of Twitch CEO Dan Clancy and has called on him to resign on multiple occasions. He has also promoted danclancysucks.com, a parody website that aims to “expose” Dan Clancy and Twitch’s subtle promotion of anti-Semitism. Even after updating Twitch’s terms of service to classify the term “Zionist” as an insult and a banning offense, Saltman insisted that the platform had handled it incompetently and that no Jew had wanted a ban.

The ban puts a damper on Dan Saltman and Asmongold’s interview plans

Despite Dan’s constant criticism, there are several more Twitch allegations that he has yet to disclose. Fellow streamer Asmongold was supposed to interview Dan Saltman on a livestream to seemingly “expose” Twitch, but with this ban it’s highly unlikely they’ll be able to carry out their plan. Saltman also believes that his Twitch ban should prevent him from talking to other YouTubers (Asmongold) on stream, as it is likely against the rules to participate in a live stream with a banned streamer.

However, Asmongold had already stated earlier this month that he would have no problem switching to Kick or Rumble if Twitch punished him unreasonably, so there is a possibility they would host the livestream on another platform instead. It’s important to note that there’s no word on their plans, but the streaming world probably hasn’t seen the last of Dan Saltman yet.