As a community based website, Twitch relies heavily on its content creators to drive traffic, and therefore viewers, to its platform.

In late 2016, Twitch launched its IRL category; a place for content creators to share their daily lives while interacting with their established communities.

On the 27th of April 2017, Ice_Poseidon did just that. While waiting for his plane to start boarding, he livestreamed at his airport terminal to share his IRL experience and engage with his community.

Ice_Poseidon was subsequently targeted by a malicious viewer, a self-confessed member of a hacking community, who decided to call in a bomb threat while Ice's plane was up in the air. This resulted in Ice_Poseidon being taken off his plane and interrogated by FBI agents for a number of hours.

Instead of supporting Ice_Poseidon after he went through this horrendous ordeal, Twitch has decided to issue him with a permanent ban.

Not only does this decision give a voice to the malicious viewer who called in a bomb threat, but it also encourages future incidents where the intent is to significantly disrupt Twitch livestreams.

The IRL category is still in its infancy, and perhaps its guidelines need tweaking to help reduce the possibility of future hoaxes/threats. However, Ice_Poseidon did not breach current IRL guidelines by streaming from his airport terminal.

Ice_Poseidon has been an innovator within the Twitch IRL community. He has made several significant investments, including a $4,000 cellular bonding device (known within Ice's community as the $4,000 Satellite), with an aim to improving the quality of his broadcasts.

We, the undersigned, ask Twitch Interactive to reconsider its position on banning Ice_Poseidon, and to provide more support to its broadcasters when they are maliciously targeted.