The US Army’s Failed Experiment to Recruit Gamers Via Twitch

In some ways, the world of the Army and the world of video games are very closely entwined. After all, millions of gamers play games like Call of Duty every year. And these games often glorify war and combat, serving as valuable recruitment tools.

In June, the U.S. Army took things to the next level on Twitch and started streaming live broadcasts. They hoped streaming would serve as a solid recruitment and PR opportunity. But after a barrage of criticism for their tactics in recent weeks, they have stopped streaming entirely. The announcement was made by an Army spokesperson on July 22.

“The team has paused streaming to review internal policies and procedures, as well as all platform-specific policies, to ensure those participating in the space are clear before streaming resumes,” the spokesperson said.

What was this about, and where did it all go wrong? Here’s everything you need to know about the Army’s failed experiment to recruit gamers via Twitch.

Initial controversy

Some gamers were opposed to the Army’s Twitch presence from the very beginning. They saw this as the digital equivalent of the military trying to recruit young people on a high school campus.

To these critics, this is wrong because the Army is effectively preying on young people and capitalizing on their love of video games. And it doesn’t help that the military has a long history of using simulators to effectively dehumanize enemy forces.

Because of these early critics, pushback to the Army’s recruitment efforts was inevitable. But nobody would predict how quickly everything would go off the rails.

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Unconstitutional bans

Cheeky users visited the Twitch chat to ask the recruiter questions such as “what’s your favorite U.S. war crime?” While some of these users were surely trolls, others saw themselves as introducing the grim realities of warfare and international policy to would-be recruits.

The recruiter responded by quickly banning anyone who asked such questions. This was an attempt to quickly solve the problem, but it soon led to other issues.

According to the Knight First Amendment Institute, the Army banning people for simply asking uncomfortable questions is actually unconstitutional. It is the equivalent to the government opening up a public forum and then yanking the microphone from anyone who asks a question that the Army doesn’t wish to answer.

These potentially-unconstitutional bans have opened the door to further legal action. And this is one of the primary reasons the Army stopped streaming.

Recently, the Army unbanned the users who they previously targeted. This is likely an attempt to deflect from further potential legal challenges.