Twitch Bans Russian Channel That Burns Gas to Troll the World

The Twitch account russiangas1, a 24/7 feed of a stove top burning gas to troll NATO, has been banned from Twitch due to a violation of Twitch's Community Guidelines or Terms of Service." Twitch did not immediately return Motherboard's request for comment about why the account was banned.

Created on September 11, 2022, russiangas1 had been streaming off and on since September 17. With minor variations, the stream was always the same: stove tops burning with a message superimposed on the screen explaining how cheap it was for Russians to burn gas. The stream was a troll directed at a Europe that's been cut off from Russian gas and is facing economic turmoil and a brutal winter.

Twitch has not elaborated on the reason for the ban and there are several copycat channels doing the exact same thing that are still up and running. It's possible that some of the music russiangas1 used violated a copyright or the channel ran up against Twitch's rules against inflammatory" content. We'll probably never know.

The ban comes at a time when tensions between Russia and the west are escalating. In a prepared speech this morning, Putin called for a partial mobilization of 300,000 Russian soldiers and warned the U.S. and Europe against further interference in Ukraine.