Streaming platform Twitch is being sued by a viewer for $25 million USD. The user, Erik Estavillo, has accused the platform of exposing him to “overly suggestive and sexual content from various female streamers.”
Named streamers include well-known content creators such as Amouranth, Alinity and Pokimane.
In documents obtained by Dexerto, Estavillo explains he suffers from a number of medical conditions which mean he is reliant on the internet, and websites like Twitch, for entertainment. Two of the medial conditions referenced in the documents are OCD and sex addiction.
The legal document, filed in California, reads: “Twitch has extremely exacerbated his condition by displaying many sexually suggestive women streamers through Twitch’s twisted programming net code, making it nearly impossible for the plaintiff to use Twitch without being exposed to such sexual content.”
Dexerto notes thats Estavillo is currently following just shy of 800 female streamers and no male streamers, which he says is due to Twitch’s search options, which don’t allow users to search by gender.
The document claims that this forces Estavillo to choose a “game and/or category to watch, with thumbnails showing these scantily clad women, alongside men, of being the only streaming channels available to him.”
It goes on to state: “In addition, Twitch also takes advantage of the plaintiff and many other sexually addicted viewers by allowing them to ‘Subscribe, Donate, or Pay Bits’ to these women streamers
“Twitch uses this immediate gratification reward system against their sexually addicted viewers no different than how a casino would.”
It’s alleged that Twitch “continues to expose viewers who just want to see people playing video games on [the platform], but instead get exposed to sexually addictive material and content on a consistent and regular basis daily.”
The list of women streamers listed in the legal writings includes the following women, and calls for Twitch to not only offer Estavillo the $25m in relief funds, but also issue permanent bans:
- Amouranth
- Quqco
- ST Peach
- JadeTheJaguar
- Pink_Sparkles
- Valeria7K
- DanielaAzuage_
- lilchipmunk
- iaaras2
- theRaychul
- KrystiPryde
- SonjaShio
- Gavrilka
- MizzyRose
- KayPikeFashion
- Alinity
- QTCinderella
- Pokimane
- Velvet_7
- Loserfruit
Estavillo has reportedly previously sued Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo and Blizzard.
Featured Image Credit: Twitch/Pokimane. Twitter/Alinity