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.