Twitch punishes Minecraft streamer for reporting a fraudulent donation

pcgamer.com:

Twitch has terminated a streamer's ability to receive Bits—the platform's virtual currency—after he reported a potentially fraudulent donation to the streaming site.

Verloren—a Minecraft streamer and Twitch partner—had received a 120,000 Bits donation off-stream in December, which works out to a pretty sizeable $1,200. Though he was initially excited, he then tentatively reported the donation to Twitch, telling me he was «concerned that maybe a 15-year-old was mishandling their parents' money» without their permission. 

While Twitch initially said no further action was required, Verloren was keen to double-check a large sum of money was fine. «It'd be unfortunate for me to spend my Twitch cheque and then be charged back,» he told Twitch support in an email. «Could I get some kind of confirmation or at least remove all the Bits from this payout until further notice?»

Well I've kept this behind the scenes for over 2 months now and @TwitchSupport has absolutely failed me.TLDR at last tweet (5/5)I reported an issue 2 months ago about a suspicious donation from an anonymous cheerer that took place off stream (120,000 bits, yes $1.2K USD). (1/5)February 4, 2022

The streaming service then confirmed in January that the transaction had been flagged as fraudulent, informing Verloren that the 120,000 Bits had been removed. But the streamer was still unable to access leaderboards for gifted subs and Bits during his streams. It was then confirmed that Twitch had flagged his account «for engaging in or supporting conduct» against ToS.

«After careful and extensive review of your account history, we have decided to terminate your participation in the Bits Program,» the email from support read. «Please accept this as notice of our