US Army Prevails In The Appeal To Stop Them Recruiting Via Twitch
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic US Representative, has had a bill to stop the US Army recruiting via Twitch blocked in the House of Representatives.
The amendment that Ocasio-Cortez presented would have prevented the military from maintaining a presence on Twitch.tv, any video game, esports or streaming platform.
The case was built upon Twitch, and other streaming platforms, being accessible and targeted at children as young as 12, arguing that the current demographic is at an unsuitable age for the military to target.
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The US Army often run partnerships with Twitch, and games such as Call of Duty, where they have their own 'US Army plays' section on the live streaming of the Call of Duty League. This involves breaking down gameplay and strategies implemented within the esports matches, and promoting their own practices through the game.
Ocasio-Cortez said in her statement to the speaker, "Children should not be targeted in general for many marketing purposes in addition to military service.
“Right now, currently, children on platforms such as Twitch are bombarded with banner ads linked to recruitment signup forms that can be submitted by children as young as 12 years old. These are not education outreach programs for the military.”
The bill was ultimately blocked by the House of Representatives, and afterwards, Ocasio-Cortez expressed her frustration of the process, stating "Imagine trying to explain to your colleagues who are members of Congress what Twitch is".
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With the bill blocked, the US Army still has the green light to promote themselves on Twitch, through events like Twitch Rivals Warzone tournaments, although they have been inactive on the platform for several weeks.
Twitch could yet dissociate themselves with the US Army in spite of the application, however, this is yet to be decided.
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Image via Twitch
