After a temporary ban from Twitch following the alleged assault of his partner during a livestream, Australian Fortnite streamer Luke “MrDeadMoth” Munday returned to the platform this week.
The December 9 incident involved Munday arguing with his pregnant partner over missing out on dinner. The ABC reported that Munday and his partner could be heard off-screen, with items thrown at Munday from across the camera and obscenities shouted before he left his desk and returned multiple times. The alleged assault was not streamed on camera.
Munday was arrested hours after the stream and charged with common assault. He received a four-week court date adjournment to seek further legal advice. He is believed to be entering his plea on January 10, where the court will also deal with a change to one of the conditions on an AVO application against him.
Munday announced his return to Twitch via Twitter on January 31, saying “let’s be positive.”
Tune in 13 hours from now, let’s be positive.
https://t.co/6WTMBnfqoh#mrdeadmoth— MrDeadMoth (@MrDeadMoth) December 30, 2018
Munday’s return to Twitch was met with angry responses on social media.
The man who beat his wife on stream (MrDeadMoth) is currently live streaming from your platform, how have you allowed this to happen bruh @Twitch
— faze hazz (@Hazz) January 2, 2019
@Twitch Keep this guy off the service are you kidding.
— The Drewth (@drewkarst) January 3, 2019
Wow, as a former twitch streamer I just saw what you did and I’m disgusted. I don’t know you, but I do know how being a streamer influences children and teenagers who look up to you….
Understand that and never ever hit a woman….. im lost for words ???? infamy sells I guess ????— Barmybram – random bloke (@barmybram) January 2, 2019
Fuck you, @twitch. Let this guy come back after what he did to this woman live during a stream? https://t.co/ABlcqgKdpx
— drew olanoff (@yoda) January 2, 2019
At the time of writing, two identical clips from the stream were saved to the MrDeadMoth Twitch page and are timestamped January 3. In the clips, Munday is talking about the current game of Fortnite he is playing and a child can be heard talking in the background.
It seems that Munday may have received roughly a fourteen day ban from around the time that the alleged incident occured. According to Twitch’s account suspension page,
“We suspend accounts that violate our Terms of Service and/or Community Guidelines. Most violations will result in a temporary suspension of one day up to 30 days, and a strike on the account. We may also remove content associated with the violation.”
Under section 9 of Twitch’s Term’s and Services, users may not, “create, upload, transmit, distribute, or store any content that is inaccurate, unlawful, infringing, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, harassing, threatening, abusive, inflammatory, or otherwise objectionable.”
It’s currently unclear why a standard ban may have been applied to an account that is currently involved in an open case or why it was lifted ahead of the January 10 court date.
Update January 3, 14:20: A Twitch spokesperson has told Kotaku Australia that they don’t comment publicly about moderation matters.
If you or someone you know is suffering from domestic violence, you can contact the Domestic Violence Hotline at 1800 656 463 or the 1800Respect national sexual assault, domestic and family violence hotline.
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