Maya Higa Unable To Use Her Own Surname On Twitch

A popular Twitch streamer and animal environmentalist, Maya Higa, disclosed to viewers that she is unable to use her username in the titles of her Twitch streams because it is judged to be “possibly improper”.

Twitch has been criticized in the past for its restriction of language. While certain terms are properly regulated, users such as Nick Polom AKA “Nmplol” have criticized Twitch for banning words like “obese”, which he believes should be permitted as a legitimate medical term.

During the peak of the hot tub meta, Twitch appeared to restrict the phrase “hot tub” from the main channel’s own chat, resulting in outrage from fans.

It is not simply word censoring in chat, though. A popular minecraft streamer, GeorgeNotFound, got his channel, ThisIsGeorgeNotFound, blocked for allegedly having phrases that intimidate, trigger, and throw shades of others.

On July 24th, Maya Higa disclosed arguably the most unusual incident of censorship on Twitch streams, she stated that her partner Mizkif could not use her true surname in stream title because it was too similar to a racist slur.

Instead, Mizkif had to call her “Maya Robert” in his title, which caused significant confusion among viewers, who attacked the chat room with question marks.

“He attempted to write Maya Higa, but they wouldn’t let him because they felt it was potentially inappropriate”, she stated. It sounds suspiciously like the N-word. You can’t put that in a title because they won’t let you”.

However, Maya’s surname is only prohibited in titles, so viewers may possibly put Higa into conversations, thus blurring the lines between censorship and alleged insults.

Twitch hasn’t replied publicly to the matter, but it’s still one of the oddest examples of censorship on the network.