The Twitch Streamer Saudi Arabia Contract Controversy Explained

gamerant.com:

Twitch as a platform is no stranger to controversy, with the huge amount of content creators on the service often making it difficult to keep track of the huge amounts of drama that ensues. While a streamer's on-stream conduct is often the source of drama in the way of resultant bans and suspensions, the sponsorship deals that a streamer may take can also be the source of controversy.

One of the largest sponsorship-based Twitch controversies came recently, when many popular streamers were linked to an involvement in a Saudi Arabian gaming sponsorship deal. The announcement of these links immediately garnered platform-wide criticism, and have opened up a wider dialogue regarding the morality and ethics of certain sponsorships that streamers can become associated with.

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While many specifics regarding the sponsorship deal are not known, many of the more pertinent details are. The sponsorship in question was offered to many high-profile streamers, and would have seen those who accept the deal fly out to Saudi Arabia, where they would partake in a four-day gaming event supposedly centered around the popular battle royale title Fortnite.

Popular Twitch streamer pokelawls was approached with the sponsorship and, while choosing not to become involved, he did read out some of the contractual obligations for the sponsorship deal. The deal has many social media clauses, for example, requiring streamers who attend the event to make several promotional posts across YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram. Although not confirmed, it has been suggested that the sponsorship would see partaking streamers earn six-figure payments, only exacerbating the controversy surrounding the deal.

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