We’ve lived through the era of the hot tub meta. We survived the ASMR onslaught. We thankfully avoided Amouranth’s yoga pants Twister meta from really taking off. In comparison, streamers watching TV shows with their audiences really doesn’t seem all that bad, but it’s not actually us as the poor unsuspecting Twitch audience who have to worry anymore.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you watch an entire show on a streaming platform, you’re going to get a copyright strike. That’s not even a ‘maybe’, it literally is just a matter of when. And big streamers have already been discovering this for themselves, with many facing bans and suspensions.
While you're here, check out some of our favourite livestream wins and fails below!
Anyway, if you were thinking that the whole TV watching thing is a bit silly, you wouldn’t be the only one. YouTuber Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg (who I’m positively certain I don’t need to introduce you to), offered his thoughts on the whole situation during his stream on 11 January, questioning why creators are risking their channels by broadcasting blatantly copyrighted content.
“Oh, you watched Avatar: The Last Airbender on Twitch? See that’s a lie because no one would be dumb enough to do that,” he said sarcastically, before staring off into space to the side of his camera and eventually cracking up.
Even though he wasn’t saying any names, it’s quite obvious here that the creator was referring to one of the platform’s best known faces, Imane “Pokimane” Anys, who faced a 48 hour suspension over the weekend after watching, you guessed it, none other than Avatar: The Last Airbender. His jab was hardly subtle.
One of the most recent victims of the dreaded copyright strike is Jeremy “Disguised Toast” Wang, who’s currently in the midst of a ban after watching the anime series Death Note on Twitch. However, even though Pokimane got away with only a couple of days of suspension, it’s currently looking like Disguised Toast may be gone from the platform for an entire month, if his tweet from 11 January is anything to go by: “Welp, looks like I'll be seeing you guys in a month.”
Despite all the bans, the TV watching meta doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of slowing down, although of course it might end up being forcibly shut down if copyright holders really get cracking down. Well, might as well embrace it while it lasts - it beats hot tubs.
Featured Image Credit: Twitch, PewDiePie via YouTube