Overview

Twitch Adpocalypse refers to reports of companies pulling their advertisements from the streaming platform Twitch in late 2024, purportedly due to a rise in unchecked antisemitism and extreme content from streamers on the platform. In particular, streamer Hasan Piker was blamed by many for the so-called adpocalypse due to his coverage of the Hamas-Israel conflict, during which he has reportedly shown support for terrorist organizations like Hamas, interviewed an alleged Houthi rebel known as Timhouthi Chalamet and praised the deceased Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, among other incidents. Amid the controversy, some claimed that Twitch was actively working to defend Piker from getting banned. Conversely, Piker blamed streamer Asmongold for the adpocalypse over his October 2024 Palestine comments, which got Asmon temporarily banned from the platform. In mid-November 2024, Twitch then changed its policy to make the term "zionist" a slur when used in certain contexts to refer to Jewish people broadly. That same month, it was reported that over 10 major companies pulled ads from the platform. The term "adpocalypse" is a reference to the 2017 YouTube adpocalypse, during which companies pulled out of advertising on YouTube due to the questionable content of some videos on the platform.

Background

In April 2024, streamer Toneman and leftist political streamer Denims received criticism after Denims raised a $20,000 bounty to make streamer Grummz "disappear" to $30,000, which many initially perceived was aimed at Asmongold before Denims later clarified it was Grummz. This was seen by many as a death threat and a legitimate bounty. Despite this, neither Denims nor Toneman received bans or suspensions.^[1]

Purportedly, Asmongold was contacted by the FBI over the incident but chose not to pursue charges, believing she was "joking around."^[2] This has been cited by some as the first incident leading to the Twitch adpocalypse, due to Twitch staff not banning Denims or Toneman for the supposed bounty.

Developments

In late 2024, some creators started calling out certain Twitch staff and creators, including CEO Dan Clancy, for normalizing and refusing to punish extreme content and antisemitism on the platform.

Sabra Tier List Controversy

One major early incident relating to this was the so-called "Sabra tier list controversy" in which, on September 21st, 2024, streamers Denims, Frogan, Capri and Raff, all part of the Ayyrabs podcast, made a tier list during a TwitchCon panel where they ranked fellow streamers on the basis of who they believe should be allowed to use the word "habibi," a term of endearment in many Arabic countries. The list was seen as antisemitic by some content creators, including Jewish creator Ethan Klein of the H3 Podcast and political streamer Destiny.

The backlash to the incident resulted in all the creators involved in the tier list getting 30-day bans from Twitch on October 21st, 2024.

Asmongold's Palestine Comments

On October 13th, 2024, Asmongold went live on his Zackrawrr Twitch channel, during which he discussed reports of human rights violations in Palestine amid the ongoing war in Israel. The moment took place 22 minutes into his livestream. In the clip, he claims Palestine has "genocide baked into" Sharia law and calls Palestinians "terrible people," calling their culture inferior. After the stream, the clip of his comments during the segment quickly garnered attention and was reposted elsewhere online.

Ultimately, Asmongold was temporarily banned for the controversial statements. While many agreed with the ban, later on, some saw it as an example of Twitch's uneven use of its guidelines or TOS where-in Asmongold was swiftly banned for an anti-Palestine take, but others, like Frogan and Denims, were only banned after scrutiny for their contentious antisemitic takes.^[6]

Hey @Asmongold what about my "culture" makes it okay to genocide my friends/family? pic.twitter.com/y4gFnyrP2k

— CapriSunnPapi (@CapriSunnPapi) October 14, 2024

Twitch Blocking Israeli Users Controversy

In late October 2024, Twitch came under fire for reports that it had blocked Israelis from signing up for the platform following the October 7th, 2023, Hamas attack.

On October 20th, 2024, Twitch released a statement claiming this was an accident and that both Palestinian and Israeli citizens were banned from making accounts following the attack, purportedly to stop streamers from uploading conflict-related content to the platform. This was speculated by some to be a lie, further fueling the growing controversy surrounding Twitch.

Congressman Ritchie Torres' Warning to Twitch and Hasan Piker

On October 29th, 2024, Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres released a letter addressed to Twitch CEO Dan Clancy warning him about a purported rise in antisemitism due to the platforming of extreme voices on Twitch.^[3][4][5] Namely, Torres points the blame at leftist political streamer Hasan Piker, an outspoken supporter of Palestine in regards to the Hamas-Israel conflict.

In the letter, Torres points to several specific examples of Piker showing support for Hamas and various terrorist organizations in relation to the conflict, including his platforming of a purported Houthi terrorist, a claim that Piker said he has “no issue” with Hezbollah, calling Orthodox Jews "inbred" and dehumanizing a Jewish man by calling him a “bloodthirsty pig dog," among other past incidents.

Piker notably called Torres out for "clip chomping" him and taking him out of context during a stream that took place shortly before Torres released the letter.

Central Committee's Twitch Bounty On Destiny

On November 8th, 2024, Twitch streamer Central_Committee (Michael Beyer) reacted to a video by fellow streamer Destiny titled "Chilin' help me decide between Staccato XC and Alien." In a moment during the livestream as he reacted to the clip, Central_Committee said that he had an "opportunity" to earn $100,000 for any follower living in Florida (where Destiny purportedly lives), with many perceiving it as him insinuating that he would pay for someone to do something to Destiny.^[7]

Twitch banned Central_Committee following his controversial comment during the livestream earlier that day.

Twitch Streamer Central_Committee does not like Destiny pic.twitter.com/ZdLa6MCSIv

— Twitch.tvcilps (@TwitchTvcilps) November 9, 2024

Twitch Streamer Ad Revenue Decrease Claims

In early November 2024, Twitch streamers including TheStockGuy,^[8] BigEx and KaySan claimed that their ad revenue had dropped drastically. Some of the affected streamers suggested other creators like Hasan Piker, Frogan and Asmongold led to this due to controversial actions in prior months.

Adpocalypse Claims / Twitch Labels "Zionist" A Slur

Throughout November 2024, discussions of a possible adpocalypse continued to spread online, with streamers pointing the blame at a variety of creators. On November 13th, a clip was posted to the subreddit /r/livestreamfail^[9] in which Hasan Piker claims that Asmongold caused the adpocalypse, garnering over 3,900 upvotes in five days.

On the same day, X^[10] user @BestfriendKick posted a clip of Hasan blaming Destiny and DanCantStream while talking to someone whose revenue was affected. In the clip, Hasan also claims that Twitch stopped promoting him on the front page of the site.

On November 15th, 2024, it was reported that Twitch had updated its Hateful Conduct Policy to make it eligible to ban streamers for using "zionist" as a slur.^[11][12]

🚨Hasanabi Blames Destiny and @dancantstream's "Smear Campaign" for getting Twitch streamers like Kaysan and BigEx Demonetized Making $0 in Ad Revenue for having Twitch Tags Iran and Venezuela❗️😮 pic.twitter.com/bkL4rRTqaE

— Bestfriend (@BestfriendKick) November 13, 2024

Ludwig Controversy

On November 16th, 2024, YouTuber, streamer and content creator Ludwig posted a video about the Twitch adpocalypse to YouTube,^[13] garnering over a million views in two days.

In the video, Ludwig discusses the potential reasons for the adpocalypse, pointing his main criticism at Asmongold. He points to a clip of Asmongold taking some blame for the adpocalypse,^[14] although notably, Asmongold also claimed Hasan was the main reason.^[15]

The video was heavily criticized online because Ludwig did not mention Hasan as a potential cause for the adpocalypse. Some saw this as Ludwig trying to "defend his friend."

"Over 10 Major Advertisers Pause Spending On Twitch" Report

On November 16th, 2024, Richard Lewis made a post to Substack^[16] claiming that over 10 major companies have paused spending on Twitch amid the ongoing controversy, sparking additional discourse on social media.

Search Interest

External References