A major First Amendment rights institute has sent a letter to the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy demanding both “un-ban” certain users who’ve been thrown off the branches’ esports Twitch channels for engaging in military-critical speech, such as by asking about alleged U.S. war crimes.

“His messages were quintessential political speech, which lie at the core of the First Amendment,” wrote the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University in its joint letter to the branches while referring to Twitch platform user Jordan Uhl. Uhl, a progressive activist living in Washington, D.C., was banned earlier this month by both branches’ respective live-stream sports channels found on the popular online platform Twitch, according to the Knight Institute’s five-page letter. The letter was issued by the organization to the Army and Navy on Wednesday and also made public to news media.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]