US Army eSports team accused of violating First Amendment Act: Report

The US Army Esports team is guilty of a violation of the First Amendment, according to Vera Eidelman, a staff attorney for the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project. As reported by Vice, the US Army Esports team, which regularly does streaming sessions on Twitch, banned several people from its channel for asking questions about US war crimes. While speaking to the publication house, Eidelman said the US government or a government organisation cannot pick and choose what comments it allows on a public forum, which is a clear violation of the First Amendment's free speech protections. The staff attorney also claimed there's a recent history of "case law" to back the accusation.

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US Army Esports Twitch, Discord handles ban people for "uncomfortable questions"

Announced in 2018, the US Army Esports team consists of professional gamer who are either active to reserve personnel. The main agenda of the Esports team was generally to increase the appeal of the defence forces in front of the youth in order to boost its annual recruitment. However, since June 2020, the team has repeatedly embroiled itself in numerous controversies surrounding attempts to suppress the uncomfortable questions. It quickly turned into a game for the viewers to see how fast can one get banned from their Twitch or Discord channel by asking edgy questions. 

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From linking the Wikipedia page for war crimes committed by the United States to bombarding the comment section with anti-army jokes or memes, users have used multiple techniques to rile up the US Army Esports into banning them. Activist Jordan Uhl, runs his own Twitch stream, told Vice: "It is interesting that (The Army is) being aggressive with removing any incidences of US war crimes (from their Twitch/Discord channels) in what is essentially a recruiting tool for the military.” While Uhl understands its simple trolling by the users, he still feels enraged that the Army is recruiting on Twitch. 

Uhl concludes stating if the US Army is looking to exploit "modern tools and platforms" that are widely used by the younger generation today, the kids should at least have the right to what the military is all about and what it has done in the past. 

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(Image Credits: US Army Esports Twitter Handle)