The Real Reason Winnie The Pooh Was Removed From Twitch

Who would have ever imagined that Winnie the Pooh could be used in a context that's considered unsuitable for certain audiences? Well, with the internet as it is, such a concept is not only entirely possible, but it happened on Twitch.

On May 24, Twitch streamer Pedguin posted on Twitter that one of his emotes was taken down for being "Imagery of sexualized content." The graphic in question appears to be a stylized version of Winnie the Pooh in an inflatable pool wearing a red bikini with dollar bills surrounding him. In the tweet, he said, "This baffles me as sexual suggestiveness is a spectrum that involves some degree of personal interpretation of where the line falls." He further questioned how Twitch found the emote sexual, capping it off with "Please grow up."

Apparently, this isn't the first time Pedguin has run into trouble with the streaming platform over his emotes. The streamer has actually shared a compilation of his emotes that were deemed inappropriate. He's also explained the frustration that comes with getting his emotes restored, tweeting, "The worst part about having my emotes getting reported and removed is I have to deal with manual approval."

In response, Pedguin has revised a few of his controversial emotes and shared them on Twitter, hoping that "no one at Twitch finds them sexy now." The emotes recently passed manual review, though the streamer cautioned that it could only be a matter of time before another moderator reverses the decision.

The subject of hot tub streaming on Twitch has gotten a lot of attention as of late, which could explain why the emote was taken down. Twitch streamer Amouranth came under fire recently for the nature of her content and her comments regarding the so-called "hot tub meta," leading to Twitch's shocking decision to briefly remove advertising from her channel. Furthermore, after creating a specific category encompassing hot tub streamers, Twitch came up with even more new hot tub rules, so it's entirely possible that a mod viewed Winnie the Pooh in a bathing suit and pool as potentially controversial.

Amouranth recently hit back at the hot tub meta criticism by making some interesting points about contradictions within Twitch's policies, and the debates have continued ever since. All of this certainly raises questions about how the company decides what is and isn't appropriate. As time goes on, Twitch will likely have to further refine its rules for designating content as "explicit."