Twitch Military Recruitment Controversy

Overview

Twitch Military Recruitment refers to the controversy surrounding the U.S. Army’s, Navy’s and Air Force’s use of Twitch as a recruitment tool via their esports teams. In July 2020, several U.S. military branches faced backlash and scrutiny online for using Twitch to recruit potential service members, including the use of advertising fake giveaways that redirected people to recruitment forms. The controversy was widely reported on by numerous media outlets and discussed across social media platforms.

Background

In early July 2020, political activist Jordan Uhl reported the use of the U.S. military’s esports teams on Twitch as a form of recruitment. On July 8th, during a Call of Duty stream on the U.S. Army esports team’s channel, Uhl posed the question, “What’s your favorite us war crime?” and received a ban shortly after from Army recruiter and gamer Joshua “Strotnium” David. The clip was shared to Twitter^[1] by independent journalist Rod "Slasher" Breslau (seen below), receiving over 9,800 likes and 1,500 retweets and comments. While the Army claimed that it banned Uhl due to breaking Twitch’s policy on harassment, Vice ^[2] later reported that civil rights lawyers said the Army may have violated the First Amendment for banning viewers asking questions during the stream.

On July 15th, Uhl reported in an article published by The Nation^[3] that “The U.S. military is using online gaming to recruit teens,” which covered their use of giveaway’s that redirected viewers to a recruitment form. The story was shared to Uhl’s Twitter^[4] account that day (shown below), where it received over 8,300 likes and 3,900 retweets.

Developments

Online Reactions

Over the course of July 2020, users online widely discussed the controversy across social media platforms and websites, as well as several media outlets, including Mashable,^[5] The Verge,^[6] PC Gamer^[7] and many others.

On July 17th, Twitter^[8] user CrypticNoOne tweeted about the event and said, “They trying to recruit bunch of 12 year olds that just want a gaming PC,” receiving over 24,200 likes and 1,800 retweets and comments (seen below). On July 21st, Twitter^[9] user PushDustIn also tweeted about the controversy and stated, “The US Army and Navy shouldn't be on @Twitch at all,” receiving over 5,200 likes and 1,000 retweets.

On July 17th, Twitch announced that it was blocking the Army’s use of using fake giveaways as a recruitment tool, which was covered by numerous media outlets, including IGN.^[10] That day, Redditor^[11] auscrisos posted IGN’s article to the /r/technology subreddit, receiving nearly 30,000 upvotes and 1,000 comments. Twitter^[12] user and reporter Ken Klippenstein tweeted about the blocking and said, “With one troll, @jordanuhl single-handedly got the Pentagon to change its Twitch recruitment polices lol,” receiving over 4,900 likes and 600 retweets and comments (shown below).

On July 22nd, several media outlets and reporters shared that due to increasing pressure from backlash, the army was pausing its social media and Twitch usage. New York Times reporter Taylor Lorenz covered the development and shared her article on Twitter,^[13] receiving over 2,000 likes and 400 retweets. Rod "Slasher" Breslau also tweeted^[14] that day and said, “sources tell me due to recent media coverage of fake giveaways and potentially unconstitutional bans, the US Army esports team has paused social activity,” receiving over 10,000 likes and 1,200 retweets (seen below).

On July 22nd, Vice^[15] reported that U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez planned “to file a measure that would prevent the military from using video games and esports as military recruitment tools.”

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References