Back in the far off time of 2016, Twitch dished out a lifetime ban against Counter-Strike: Global Offensive streamer James "PhantomL0rd" Varga. The reason for the ban was allegedly never made clear, only that Varga was ousted "due to terms of service violations." Of course, the reason he was banned was assumed to be due to the allegations that Varga was balls deep in the mess that was CS:GO skin bet rigging through a site he had a vested interest in, CSGOShuffle.
It took a couple of years for Varga to realize he needs to save face somehow and that's when he decided he would sue Twitch. In 2018, Varga sued Twitch for "breach of contract, intentional interference with contractual relations, and intentional and negligent misrepresentation in removing him from their platform." The suit claims that Varga was not made aware of the reasons for his Twitch ban until January 2017. It was then that a Twitch employee allegedly told Varga that he was banned due to fraudulent subscribers to his channel. He was then later told that the real issue was the amount of non-gaming content he streamed, ironic when you think about what Twitch is like these days. This "non-gaming" content did include plenty of CS:GO skin gambling, which was against Twitch rules.
Just a few months after Varga filed a lawsuit against Twitch, Twitch filed a counter-suit against Varga. That counter-suit says that Varga was actually given infractions multiple times over the course of about a year prior to his permanent ban. The suit also laid out Varga's relationship with CSGOShuffle saying that he "streamed promotions for a gambling website that he had an undisclosed financial interest in, he used to rig jackpots in his favor against users he gained from Twitch, and operated in contravention of the terms of the underlying game's publisher and was potentially illegal."
The legal battle was pretty quiet in the three years following until today. The winner? Varga. A jury has ruled that Twitch "unfairly interfered with Varga's right to receive the benefits of the Partnership Agreement."
Varga was awarded total damages of just $20,720.34. This includes $15,139.34 in lost earnings from the first 30 days of his ban, plus an additional $3,060 in lost donations, and $2,521 for lost sponsorships. Twitch's counter-suit was denied. However, the jury did find Varga knowingly breached the site's terms of service and made false statements to Twitch. Curiously, the jury also found that Varga did disclose details relating to a June 2016 giveaway involving CSGOShuffle.
Twitch said in a statement that this win will not open the doors for Varga's return to the platform. They say that the mistake was merely one of procedure.
"The jury found Twitch liable for not following the proper procedures for terminating Mr. Varga's contract following his suspension, and the damages reflect the scope of this misstep—specifically, compensation for revenue losses for the duration of the 30-day notice period ($20,720). While we regret the procedural failings related to Mr. Varga’s termination in 2016, he repeatedly violated Twitch’s Community Guidelines and exposed our community to harmful content. We absolutely stand behind our decision to terminate his account, and he will not be allowed back onto the service.
"We've since established clearer and more consistent processes for suspensions and account terminations and updated our Contributor License Agreements (CLAs) to ensure clarity and consistency in our procedures for all Twitch Creators."
"We've since established clearer and more consistent processes for suspensions and account terminations and updated our Contributor License Agreements (CLAs) to ensure clarity and consistency in our procedures for all Twitch Creators."
...Though it looks like the case is pretty clear cut to me.
