Twitch Streamer James “PhantomL0rd” Varga Isn’t Happy
Back in July 2016, Twitch streamer James “PhantomL0rd” Varga was banned after he was caught in a Counter Strike: Global Offensive gambling controversy. Vargas was accused of rigging CS:GO rolls on a website called CSGO Shuffle that he reportedly owns part of.
But despite the ban, Vargas claims he was only told by a Twitch representative of the reason behind the ban five months later. He also maintains that while he was first notified that fraudulent subscribers to his channel led to his ban. However, he was later told the real reason – streaming non-gaming content.
Vargas issued a YouTube statement back in July 2017, making his intentions for a lawsuit clear.
“As many of you are already aware there is an ongoing dispute between myself and Twitch.TV,” he said. “As a result I am not currently providing content through Twitch.TV. While I cannot and will not comment on the substance of this dispute, I assure you that I am considering all of my legal options and am looking forward to asserting my rights to the fullest extent of the law.”
Here’s a part of the current lawsuit:
“It is clear from Twitch’s conduct that the stated bases for suspension and termination were an effort to deflect negative press and scapegoat Varga, allowing Twitch to publicly decry alleged gambling conduct and divert attention from the fact that Twitch continued to knowingly allow such conduct to continue on other Twitch channels.”
The lawsuit claims that the ban not only costed Varga financially, it has negatively affected his reputation. In addition, it states that he wasn’t given sufficient notice of his violation or a chance to remedy the situation within 30 days. Both are a part of his Twitch contract.
Vargas made his name between 2012 and 2016, when he streamed games such as League of Legends and CS:GO. During his time in the spotlight, he gained over one million followers and 16,000 subscribers.