Twitch under fire for running Pokimane Pro Bowl ads during streams

Virginia Glaze

Major streaming platform Twitch has garnered widespread criticism, after showing advertisements for popular streamer Pokimane’s event taking place at the 2019 Pro Bowl.

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Another popular streamer by the name of Sam ‘Strippin’ Thorne called out the ads in a scathing Tweet on January 24, noting that Twitch’s user base had been vocal about ads promoting other broadcasters on their own channels beforehand.

“I thought people were pretty vocal recently about their displeasure of other broadcasters being advertised on their channels,” Strippin wrote. “So why the fuck are my viewers seeing Pokimane ads, Twitch?”

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Strippin wasn’t the only streamer to complain about the issue, either; streamer ‘LLance’ created a humorous skit to describe the debacle, calling back to the backlash from similar ads created for Fortnite pro Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins.

“Yeah, Ninja’s too controversial – that’s why people were mad,” the fictitious Twitch conglomerate said.

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Users across Twitch decried a similar instance in late December of 2018, after Twitch rolled out ads across the platform promoting Ninja’s New Year’s Eve event. Major streamers, such as Dr Disrespect, decried the movement, calling the ads “ugly” among other insults.

“Dear Twitch, get these ugly looking New Year’s Eve ad rolls off my page,” the Doc wrote. “Don’t ever do it again either. Ever.”

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Now, it looks like Twitch is back at it again – this time, for massively popular streamer Pokimane, who has since reacted to the debacle with a bemused response to her fanbase.

About The Author

Virginia is Dexerto's Entertainment Editor and an expert in all things TikTok, YouTube, and influencer-related. Boasting a background in esports, she's been tackling the social media space for over five years. You can reach Virginia at: virginia.glaze@dexerto.com.