Twitch Tells US Army to stop sharing fake prize giveaway In Recruitment Ploy

Twitch is cracking down on the US Army esports team channel, one that has come under fire over the past week, for sharing fake prize giveaways that ultimately send users to a recruitment page, according to The Verge.

The bait-and-switch approach was first reported on by The Nation, as the American military was using the practice as a recruitment tool for the Army.

The US Army, Navy, and Air Force all operate esports teams composed of gamers and military streamers that are made up of active and reserve personnel who use the Twitch platform to chat with viewers about various topics, including careers in the military.

“Esports is just an avenue to start a conversation,” Major-General Frank Muth, head of the army’s recruiting command, said in a recent interview with ThinkTech Hawaii. “We go out there and we have a shared passion for esports … and it naturally devolves into a conversation, ‘What do you do?’, ‘I’m in the army.’”

The twitch streams included the dropping of links into the chat that informed viewers that they could win and Xbox Elite Series 2 controller in a contest “giveaway” but the link would instead direct them to “a recruiting form with no additional mention of a contest, odds, total number of winners, or when a drawing will occur”, per the report.

According to Kotaku,  viewers, streamers, and game developers were outraged over the tactic, pointing out how other channels would face consequences from Twitch for acting in the same manner.

Furthermore, Kotaku goes on to say that Twitch is now forcing the Army to stop these giveaways.

“Per our Terms of Service, promotions on Twitch must comply with all applicable laws,” a spokesperson for streaming site told Kotaku. “This promotion did not comply with our Terms, and we have required them to remove it.”

But the Army’s esports team and twitch channel has other problems as well, that are not likely going away anytime soon and could come with some legal ramifications.