PopularTwitchstreamer Heelmike has received a ban from the streaming platform with the streamer recently being embroiled in Twitch’s ban on gambling streams. The recent crackdown has seen a variety of streamers majorly impacted by Twitch’s aggressive moves to remove gambling content from the website. Several of the site’s top talents had heavily featured gambling in their content withcreators like Trainwreckstvand xQc using gambling sites on stream. Heelmike had been one of the creators involved with the trend on the platform and now has received a ban from Twitch.Heelmike first rose to prominence onTwitchas a primarilyFortniteand “Just Chatting”-focused streamer, now boasting over 7 million followers on his Twitch channel. While Heelmike has featured a variety of games on his stream since his channel first launched in 2018, he has become a prominent gambling streamer focused on slots in recent months. Though other creators have yet to see bans related to gambling on Twitch, the site instituted aggressive policies to prohibit gambling sites being featured on stream. Now, Heelmike has received an indefinite ban from the site, though reasons for the ban are unclear.RELATED:Twitch Community Guidelines Updated to Include Gambling BanHeelmike’s channel would be banned from Twitch on Tuesday evening as reported by Twitter account Streamer Bans, which tracksbans of streamers on Twitch. Heelmike would confirm the banning via his own Twitter revealing that the suspension was an indefinite one from Twitch. Heelmike has confirmed his intention to oppose the decision, revealing he had submitted an appeal to Twitch looking to see his ban reversed. Neither Heelmike nor Streamer Bans gave a reason for the suspension with the streamer’s Twitch page referring to it as a “violation of Twitch’s Community Guidelines or Terms of Service.”
While no reason was given for Heelmike’s suspension, the Twitch ban would not be the first time the streamer has found himself in the center of a controversy. Heelmike’s meteoric rise in popularity during 2021 was revealed to have connected to follow-botting, with botted accounts mass following his Twitch channel. Another top streamer, Trainwrecks, recently claimed that botting is a rampant problem, asserting that an overwhelming majority ofTwitch’s Top 100 are view-botting. Despite the accusations, Heelmike’s ban is not believed to be related to botting.
Heelmike’s ban from Twitch comes as the platform has seen a significant amount of controversy during the latter half of 2022. Twitch’s gambling ban was joined by major accusations of sexual harassment and cover-up being levied against some of the platform’s biggest creators. Twitch streamer ItsSliker also came under heavy fire afteradmitting to scamming fans and streamersout of a total of $200,000. Heelmike’s ban serves as another entry in a tumultuous year for the popular streaming platform.
