U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has reportedly submitted a draft amendment preventing the U.S. Army to use funds on live-streaming and gaming platforms, such as Twitch.
The U.S. Army is currently under fire after they became active in the streaming community on Twitch. They were reprimanded after allegedly luring its audience to a false promotion.
As it turns out, what was supposedly a link for a chance to grab an Xbox Elite Series 2 controller, redirects to a recruitment form tool. In the days to come, the U.S. Army continues to draw attention, most of it is for the wrong reasons.
https://twitter.com/USArmyesports/status/1174716164741783554
The U.S. Army on banning viewers
After drawing flak about the false promotion, the viewing public has since accused the U.S. Army of breaching the First Amendment.
Based on a report from Vice, two lawyers have spoken out about the army likely to have violated the constitution after banning its viewers on Twitch, who asked about the American war crimes.
new: lawyers now demand that the US Army and Navy esports teams stop violating the first amendment on Twitch when people ask about war crimes in Twitch chat
2020 keeps on rolling https://t.co/Sf9BsUMh6g pic.twitter.com/5fuAmzCftV
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) July 22, 2020
According to the staff attorney for the Speech, Privacy, and Technology project of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Vera Eidelman, “the Government can’t pick and choose what comments it allows on a public forum and that there’s a recent history of case law to back up the claim,” as phrased by the media outlet.
according to one email seen, while there is no official time frame for a return of the US Army across social media or on their Twitch channel, official marketing activations may not see a return until all the way in Spring 2021
— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) July 22, 2020
AOC prevents U.S. military from funding its presence on Twitch
Moreover, the U.S. Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC (her initials) has already filed a bill to stop The Army from using government funds to maintain their presence on the gaming platforms, such as on Twitch, as per a separate report from Vice.
The summary on AOC’s submitted draft amendment reads, “Prohibits the use of funds for recruiting via video gaming and e-sports platforms.”
The media outlet further quotes AOC speaking to Motherboard, saying:
“It’s incredibly irresponsible for the Army and the Navy to be recruiting impressionable young people and children via live streaming platforms. War is not a game, and the Marine Corps’ decision not to engage in this recruiting tool should be a clear signal to the other branches of the military to cease this practice entirely.”
The process for the draft amendment to become official is a very lengthy one. For the Department of Defense, there are 19 draft submissions listed. Nevertheless, the House Appropriations Committee on Rules is set to meet on July 27.
Good. I’m a veteran and pro-military. However, no branch of the US military should be using funding for recruitment via Twitch. That’s what recruitment centers are for. I don’t think there should be an Army eSports team to begin with 🤷🏻 https://t.co/jxnYRRj1Us
— John Phipps: Handsomeness Incarnate (@MagitekDad) July 22, 2020
All three of the U.S.’s military arm—the Army, Navy, and Airforce—are allegedly accused of banning viewers from their respective streaming channels, due to inquiries about the war crimes. All three have their own eSports teams as well and make use of the gaming platforms to recruit people to join the military.