After a series of seemingly nefarious actions, the US Army Esports team has reportedly paused all interaction on their social media platforms, including streaming Twitch. The U.S. Army and Navy Esports teams have been under fire for conning young teens into g up for military contracts, and the former has most recent come under scrutiny for banning viewers from commenting on their Twitch channels for dissenting, a potentially unconstitutional act.
In mid-July, the U.S. Army Esports team came under heavy scrutinization after it was reported that they had been banning viewers who asked about war crimes who asked about war crimes. The backlash they faced came from viewers who claimed their First Amendment rights of free speech had been violated, since the U.S. Army Esports team is a government entity and was censoring US citizens in its stream chat. Their second offense was when viewers discovered a series of fake giveaways running on their social media pages. The fake links led people to an army recruitment site that provided no further mention of the supposed giveaway.
Esports insider Rod Breslau not be streaming on Twitch for the foreseeable future, which is where the majority of their potentially illegal acts took place.
Breslau also stated that the pause has no definite end date, but a source has told him that the U.S. Army Esports team's official marketing activation may not return until the spring of 2021. However, their official partnership with Twitch still stands, and they are planning on making a return. There are also legislative actions being taken in an attempt to stop the U.S. Military from using video games and esports as recruitment tools.
While a break from social media can be positive, what the US Army, Navy, and Air Force Esports teams need is a complete reform of their policies, if not a complete abandonment of a predatory recruiting tactic that the US Marines have publicly denounced. Preying on children and censoring speech is not a good look for a military force, especially one that purports to protect a nation that unduly prides itself on its freedoms. It'll take the U.S. Army Esports team a long time and a lot of work to redeem itself in the eyes of Twitch and the American public, but it may be better for them to stay off of social media forever.
Source: Rod Breslau