Twitch streamers have started hitting out at the platform for its lack of acknowledgment of Arab Heritage Month and Ramadan.
The start of April marked the beginning of the worldwide Muslim celebrated month of fasting, prayer, reflection, and community Ramadan, as well as Arab Heritage Month.
However, although Twitch celebrates multiple different months of culture and inclusive initiatives such as Black History and LGBTQIA+, the Amazon-owned platform is still yet to acknowledge Arab Heritage and Ramadan.
In an April 2 tweet, popular Arab Twitch streamer ‘frogan’ hit out at Twitch for their lack of acknowledgment and support for Ramadan and Arab history.
“I’m very disappointed that Twitch isn’t acknowledging Ramadan nor Arab streamers for Arab Heritage Month knowing that MENA streamers pull so much influence on the platform,” frogan wrote.
She continued, adding that the live streaming platform doesn’t even have MENA category in their demographic surveys: “Even if Twitch wanted to do something for Arab Heritage Month, their demographic survey (which they use to find creators for these events) does not have a ‘Middle Eastern/North African’ category.”
Even if @Twitch wanted to do something for Arab Heritage Month, their demographic survey (which they use to find creators for these events) does not have a “Middle Eastern/North African” category. pic.twitter.com/LaoepomLTO
— frogan (@fr0gan) April 2, 2022
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“Must admit I was thinking the same. I’ve been trying to talk more about Ramadan in an approachable and understandable way in my streams,” responded GameSpot editor Tamoor Hussain.
He continued: “Would be nice to see Twitch generally acknowledge and uplift voices from the Muslim community. Or even Arab/South Asian streamers.”
Must admit I was thinking the same. I've been trying to talk more about Ramadan in an approachable and understandable way in my streams. Would be nice to see Twitch generally acknowledge and uplift voices from the Muslim community. Or even Arab/South Asian streamers. https://t.co/ury4ab5bnn
— Tamoor Hussain (@tamoorh) April 2, 2022
Recently, a large number of Middle Eastern Twitch streamers were blocked from receiving their payouts from the platform due to “a discrepancy with certain tax information provided during the onboarding process.”
It remains to be seen if Twitch has any plans to acknowledge either Arab Heritage Month or Ramadan in the wake of the backlash.
