Banned Twitch body painter hits out at platform over rule changes

Twitch body painter ‘ForkGirl’ has hit out at the streaming service over changes they made to their guidelines, just weeks after her channel was apparently deleted without warning. 

Body painting has long been a controversial topic on Twitch, with some users arguing it is inappropriate and so violates the platform’s guidelines. However, others argue that it is a legitimate form of art, and it regularly attracts thousands of viewers.

Twitch has strict rules about body painting. It is allowed, but streamers must meet a number of rules and standards relating to how much of their body is covered.

Back on June 5, ForkGirl claimed her Twitch channel was deleted without warning. “I woke up this morning to my Twitch account deleted, with no email or communication from Twitch,” she said.

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She also shared images of her last two paints done on stream, to show that they did not breach community guidelines. However, it now appears that the email from the platform has been found, but ForkGirl’s criticism of Twitch remains.

“It’s been confirmed – My suspension had nothing to do with copyright music,” she tweeted. “Twitch updated the body-paint guidelines to give clear rules, then threw in a vague clause which can be used to justify banning any body painter.”

In the attached explanation, she reiterated her confidence that none of her streams have breached Twitch’s guidelines, even with the new stipulations in place.

Twitch’s ruling stipulated that “performing unrelated activities for an extended period of time while dressed in body-art attire” was now a bannable offense.

She concluded: “At least when I thought it was DMCA related, I felt it was justified. But my channel has been wrongfully taken from me AGAIN. I’m so upset and disappointed.”

It’s clear, however, that ForkGirl wants more clarity over her channel removal which, at the time of writing, remains in place.

Twitch does not comment on violations of their community guidelines, or bans pertaining to specific streamers, to protect the privacy of users.