After a streamer was banned, Twitch users were still able to pay for subscriptions to channels that had been permanently banned. The problem? Those creators weren’t getting paid, the platform was keeping the revenue and viewers were unknowingly throwing money into accounts they couldn’t even access.
This only came to light because streamers started talking about it on social media platforms. Twitch didn’t proactively disclose the issue or offer refunds until it went public.
Now, Twitch says refunds are coming and the policy is being updated. But this issue went unnoticed for years.
How Twitch responded after the callout
After pushback, Twitch confirmed that it would refund users who subscribed to permabanned channels after the bans went into effect. The platform also said it will stop allowing subscriptions to those accounts and is updating its internal processes to prevent it from happening again.
However, Twitch hasn’t announced a refund timeline yet.
Another policy failure from Twitch
Streamers weren’t just sidelined — they lost out on revenue from subscriptions made after their channels were permanently banned. Twitch continued accepting payments without notifying viewers or sharing any of that income with the banned creators. Some streamers only found out because fans flagged the issue.
“You are still charging my recurring subs their monthly fee and paying me out despite incorrectly indefinitely banning me after 6 years with only 2 infractions,” banned Twitch streamer Incoxicated tweeted.
When they reported it to Twitch, many didn’t get clear answers. It wasn’t until creators spoke out publicly that Twitch acknowledged the problem, promised refunds, and committed to ending the practice going forward.
It’s not the first time that Twitch has received criticism from its community. When a platform can profit from creators who’ve been banned, that’s a policy failure. It shows how easy it is for platforms to prioritize revenue over ethics — until users push back.