Twitch Deleting Video May Be Illegal in Texas

The social network Twitch could be targeted by a complaint from the State of Texas for having deleted the Buffalo killer’s channel (United States), reports the British daily The Independent. This man filmed and broadcast live on the platform the shooting of 14 people in a grocery store in this city of New York State. Most of the victims were mostly African Americans. It is the deadliest racist attack since the beginning of the year in the country, reports BFM-TV.

According to Twitch, this deletion, which occurred a few minutes after the start of the broadcast, was justified by the violation of the conditions of use that it constituted. But according to the state of Texas, it violates a new law passed locally on the management of censorship. This makes any removal of content illegal.

Texas invokes freedom of speech

Under conservative state law, platforms used by more than 50 million Americans are prohibited from “blocking, banning, removing, deplatforming, demonetizing, de-promoting, restricting, denying access or visibility, or otherwise discriminating.” vis-à-vis freedom of expression”.

Rejected by the Supreme Court in 2021, this law was rehabilitated on May 11, 2022 by the Texas legislature, explains The Verge. It is motivated by a widespread opinion among supporters of the Republican Party. Many of them believe that Tech giants like Amazon, owner of Twitch, use these platforms to convey discrimination and criticism aimed at conservative points of view.