We’ve evolved as a society beyond canceling individuals for outrageous behavior or harmful comments, and instead discovered a loophole that bans Twitch streamers from watching verified content within the confines of copyright laws. And that’s exactly what happened to Alanah Pearce, a Sony Santa Monica employee as well as Australian streamer known as charalanahzard.
According to a recent tweet from Pearce, she was suspended “mid-stream” on Twitch after reacting to preview footage from The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom that had been certified by Nintendo itself as safe for viewing without breaching 1998’s Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The footage originated from the YouTuber known as Skill Up, real name Ralph, who makes online content involving video games to promote them as an art form. And what’s worse, Pearce didn’t even source the content herself, she was just reacting to it, so if these concerns are well-founded, shouldn’t Skill Up be facing the consequences?
Here’s what Pearce initially wrote:
“lol my Twitch just got suspended mid-stream because I was reacting to @SkillUpYT‘s Zelda preview video.”
Essentially, Nintendo informed Pearce that she was breaching the DMCA for reviewing the content, despite it being pre-approved by the company itself. Although Tears of the Kingdom doesn’t allow any early access downloads, there’s an official segment of gameplay available to watch and/or react to on YouTube currently, lasting 15 minutes or so. In the same thread, Pearce explained the ban in layman’s terms:
“It would appear that Nintendo DMCA’d me for watching approved Zelda gameplay lmao.”
Thankfully, the ban didn’t last very long. In fact, it lasted “1 hour, 10 minutes and 10 seconds” according to a bot account called StreamerBans on Twitter. Quoting the aforementioned tweet, Pearce commented on the short-lived ban:
“unban speedrun success, I contested it with Twitch as a false DMCA.”
Phew. Well, that’s a relief. As for Pearce, she can officially go back to doing what she does best. Not only has she gained a reputation for working with the development team behind God of War: Ragnarök, but Pearce also worked on Cyberpunk 2077, lending both her voice and likeness to a character and providing additional voices throughout.
Let this be a lesson that no one is safe from Nintendo’s wrath, even if you’re doing absolutely nothing wrong.