Knut banned on Twitch days after driving car while distracted by chat

Michael Gwilliam
knut driving distracted

Twitch streamer Knut has been banned after getting caught driving a car while responding to his chat at the exact same time.

Distracted driving happens every so often on Twitch, but the Amazon-owned platform has been quick to take action whenever there’s a violation of its zero-tolerance policy.

Throughout the years there have been a handful of distracted driving incidents on Twitch, normally due to streamers trying to multi-task by responding to chat while navigating the road.

On January 2, Twitch streamer Knut was the latest to be hit with a ban after footage surfaced showing him blatantly checking out his chat as he drove.

Knut banned on Twitch following distracted driving stream

On December 30, a clip showing Knut driving and reading chat was posted to social media, demanding that Twitch take action.

“Why does Twitch always turn a blind eye to distracted driving?” the tweet was captioned.

In the footage, Knut could be seen taking his eyes off the road and looking down at his phone and Twitch chat multiple times, while another vehicle could be seen passing him.

Days later, it seems like the incident finally caught up with him, as the streamer was hit with a ban. His channel now states, “This channel is temporarily unavailable due to a violation of Twitch’s Community Guidelines or Terms of Service.”

So far, the streamer has yet to comment on the incident or how long the channel will be unavailable for, but it’s unlikely to be permanent.

However, if there was an accident as a result of his distracted driving, chances are the ban could have been a lot worse. Last year, a Polish streamer was permabanned on Twitch after running over a dog while being distracted by chat.

Related Topics

About The Author

Michael Gwilliam is a senior writer at Dexerto based in Ontario, Canada. He specializes in Overwatch, Smash, influencers, and Twitch culture. Gwilliam has written for sites across Canada including the Toronto Sun. You can contact him at michael.gwilliam@dexerto.com or on Twitter @TheGwilliam