Summary
Twitchstreamer Michael Beyer, better known by his online moniker Central Committee, was banned from the Amazon-owned platform in early November 2024. This is his fourthTwitchban since 2019.
Beyer, who also goes by Mike From PA on social media, is an American streamer specializing inpolitical and social commentary. Before starting his Central Committee Twitch channel in August 2019, he ran as a Democratic Party candidate for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 131 in 2014, losing to the then-Republican Party candidate Justin Simmons.
Beyer’s streaming career has occasionally been interrupted byTwitch bans, the most recent of which was issued to him on Saturday, November 9. While Amazon’s streaming service is not in the habit of publicly explaining its moderation decisions, social media chatter suggests that the reason for Central Committee’s latest ban is fairly straightforward, and stems from himinsinuatinghe would pay someone to do something to Steven Kenneth Bonnell II, another political commentator who’s better known online as Destiny.
Central Committee Says He ‘Deserved’ His Latest Twitch Ban
Beyer did so during a November 8 broadcast, in which he first listened to a clip of Destiny saying something he disagreed with, then told his viewers that he had an opportunity for them to earn $100,000 if they “live in Florida.” For clarity, Destiny has been based out of Miami since late 2021. Central Committee’s remark plausibly violated theTwitch community guidelines, which explicitly forbid any speech or actions that either threaten harm or violence or encourage others to participate in acts that may be harmful to others. Beyer said that he “deserved” the ban in a November 9 tweet.
Following up on this train of thought, the streamer suggested that he was merely joking about paying his viewers to harass or otherwise harm Destiny. “The joke wasn’t funny,” he said. It is presently unclear how long Beyer’s latest ban is going to last. Generally speaking, Twitch maintains a zero-tolerance policy for violence-inciting speech, so even first-time offenders could see their channels permanently suspended for violations of this sort. Whether Central Committee will be able to get some leeway because of keeping his statement ambiguous remains to be seen.
This kind of drama is not entirely unprecedented on the Amazon-owned streaming service. Earlier in 2024, Twitch streamer Denims was accused of putting a similar $30,000 bounty on Asmongold.Asmongold said he was even contacted by the FBIover the ordeal, but decided not to press charges because he concluded that she was just “joking around” and not necessarily talking about him in particular.
