Twitch has filed a counter-suit against banned streamer Phantoml0rd

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Streamer James "PhantomL0rd" Varga filed a lawsuit against Twitch in February over the 2016 suspension of his account, resulting from his alleged ownership of CSGO skin gambling site CSGOShuffle. The suit claimed, among other things, that he was suspended for "unsubstantiated, false accusations," and that he'd been scapegoated by Twitch in an effort to "divert attention from the fact that Twitch continued to knowingly allow [fraudulent skin gambling] to continue on other Twitch channels.

Now Twitch has filed a counter-suit (via Polygon) alleging that Varga had been warned and penalized for streaming content that violated the terms of his contract multiple times, and for multiple reasons, over the course of roughly a year prior to his suspension. "Most notably, he streamed promotions for a gambling website that (1) he had an undisclosed financial interest in, (2) he used to rig jackpots in his favor against users he gained from Twitch, and (3) operated in contravention of the terms of the underlying game's publisher and was potentially illegal," the suit states.

"In running these promotions, Mr. Varga breached his contractual obligations to Twitch and made material misrepresentations to defraud Twitch and its users. Twitch brings this action in order to seek redress for the harm that these and other violations by Mr. Varga caused it and its users."


The suit alleges that Varga violated his contract nine times over two months prior to his suspension, with "sexually suggestive content, content involving self-harm, and content involving racist symbols," on top of the skin-gambling content. It also directly conflicts with Varga's claim about how the contract termination was handled. Varga said in his lawsuit that he wasn't informed of the reason for the suspension until January 2017, almost five months after the fact, and further alleged that Twitch later changed its justification for the suspension, from "fraudulent subscribers" to his streaming of "non-gaming content."

Twitch's counter-suit claims something entirely different, however. "In the days leading up to his termination, representatives of Twitch discussed Mr. Varga's repeated breaches, the Skins Giveaway, and the information about Mr. Varga's involvement in CSGOShuffle in person and gave him an opportunity to explain his position," the suit says. "Mr. Varga did not attempt to communicate with anyone at Twitch regarding the termination of his account until December 2016, the month after a lawsuit filed against him was dismissed (for lack of jurisdiction) in the Western District of Washington, and more than four months after his account was terminated."

The suit doesn't attach a specific figure to the redress it seeks, but asks for "an award of compensatory damages," plus fees and expenses.

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Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/twitch-has-filed-a-counter-suit-against-banned-csgo-streamer-phantoml0rd/

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MushroomElmPosted:

322
MushroomElm
Maze If he is really guilty of everything they said, he deserves what he got.


I agree, but don't think this really has anything to do with Twitch directly.
I think he owned, or co-owned, the gambling website. So he was able to tell the site admins to change the potluck chance in his favor(even being able to make it 100%)

While this would be frowned upon, people watch channels like this mostly for reaction. Regardless if he was winning or not, I'm pretty sure he'd have got the followers. He wasn't scamming anyone. He wasn't taking anyones money in the sense of "Give me your money, I'll put it in the pot and if I win you get a percent for helping"

The biggest thing against Twitch right now, if this article reads true, is that Twitch let other accounts do the same thing knowingly without penalizing them. If that is true, Twitch will have a suit against favoritism and lack of authority which could in turn help Phantom. (Example, it's against the law to kill. But if everyone killed people and the cops didn't care..But one person killed a cops wife and they arrested him...What's the difference, since you let people do it anyway? He would be acting out of lack of knowledge, which many people have pleaded in court and won. I.E Affluenza)


You are actually meant to disclose if you are connected to the website which he didn't. And yes, he basically is stealing peoples money. Imagine going to a casino and they had someone showing you how to play the game and when that person was playing that had an 80% higher chance to win than you. I don't think you would argue that is false advertising of some sort and not only morally wrong but also legally wrong. This guy was getting kids to bet money on a website where he didn't disclouse his connection and was also rigging the odds in his favour. Screw this guy, I hope twitch really gives it too him and makes him go bankrupt. Getting kids to gamble, what a stand up guy.


I'm 100% with you. I just don't think this should be something Twitch should handle. It should be something like the actual agencies that investigate fraud and stuff. I don't know for sure, but aren't there Government branches that do that? Like the DEA is for drugs and stuff. Lol.

MikePosted:

Yea just watch yourself and you will never end up like this guy

322Posted:

MushroomElm
Maze If he is really guilty of everything they said, he deserves what he got.


I agree, but don't think this really has anything to do with Twitch directly.
I think he owned, or co-owned, the gambling website. So he was able to tell the site admins to change the potluck chance in his favor(even being able to make it 100%)

While this would be frowned upon, people watch channels like this mostly for reaction. Regardless if he was winning or not, I'm pretty sure he'd have got the followers. He wasn't scamming anyone. He wasn't taking anyones money in the sense of "Give me your money, I'll put it in the pot and if I win you get a percent for helping"

The biggest thing against Twitch right now, if this article reads true, is that Twitch let other accounts do the same thing knowingly without penalizing them. If that is true, Twitch will have a suit against favoritism and lack of authority which could in turn help Phantom. (Example, it's against the law to kill. But if everyone killed people and the cops didn't care..But one person killed a cops wife and they arrested him...What's the difference, since you let people do it anyway? He would be acting out of lack of knowledge, which many people have pleaded in court and won. I.E Affluenza)


You are actually meant to disclose if you are connected to the website which he didn't. And yes, he basically is stealing peoples money. Imagine going to a casino and they had someone showing you how to play the game and when that person was playing that had an 80% higher chance to win than you. I don't think you would argue that is false advertising of some sort and not only morally wrong but also legally wrong. This guy was getting kids to bet money on a website where he didn't disclouse his connection and was also rigging the odds in his favour. Screw this guy, I hope twitch really gives it too him and makes him go bankrupt. Getting kids to gamble, what a stand up guy.

TOXICPosted:

If whats said is true then he got what he deserved. It's really not that hard to follow Twitch guidelines ffs.

MushroomElmPosted:

Maze If he is really guilty of everything they said, he deserves what he got.


I agree, but don't think this really has anything to do with Twitch directly.
I think he owned, or co-owned, the gambling website. So he was able to tell the site admins to change the potluck chance in his favor(even being able to make it 100%)

While this would be frowned upon, people watch channels like this mostly for reaction. Regardless if he was winning or not, I'm pretty sure he'd have got the followers. He wasn't scamming anyone. He wasn't taking anyones money in the sense of "Give me your money, I'll put it in the pot and if I win you get a percent for helping"

The biggest thing against Twitch right now, if this article reads true, is that Twitch let other accounts do the same thing knowingly without penalizing them. If that is true, Twitch will have a suit against favoritism and lack of authority which could in turn help Phantom. (Example, it's against the law to kill. But if everyone killed people and the cops didn't care..But one person killed a cops wife and they arrested him...What's the difference, since you let people do it anyway? He would be acting out of lack of knowledge, which many people have pleaded in court and won. I.E Affluenza)

MazePosted:

If he is really guilty of everything they said, he deserves what he got.