At the end of November, Brazilian streamer Lucas “sabininhu” Sabino told his fans that he got banned from Twitch for a second time. The reason? Well, despite already being Radiant in Valorant, sabininhu is an 11-year-old boy.
It’s important to say that all livestreams of the kid had parental supervision. However, rules on Twitch say that you have to be at least 13 years old before streaming on the platform. Still, the family is reaching out to Twitch for a request to lift the ban.
We reached out to Márcio de Oliveira and Grasiela Sabino de Oliveira, sabininhu’s parents, for an interview.
“Our intention is not to villainize Twitch.”
Márcio de Oliveira
Twitch is not the villain
The first thing sabininhu’s parents emphasized was that Twitch is not the bad guy in this story.
“Our intention is not to villainize Twitch,” Márcio said. “In a way, we were even quite surprised and pleased with the first ban, knowing that the platform has these mechanisms to monitor this type of action. Logically, in the unfolding of this, because we know exactly what is happening, we [started] to have a different look.”
“Reached Radiant at 11 years old. Very happy with the beginning of this, thanks to everyone that accompanied me here.”
Sabininhu’s parents are asking for direct contact with Twitch. The intention behind this plea on social media is to get Twitch to notice them, Márcio continued. The parents believe that the rules work until an exception appears, and this case is one.
“The frustration is not having a better opportunity to present the case,” Márcio said. “To show the reason for our insistence. This situation — it’s much bigger than a financial or marketing issue. There are other aspects involved in the question. We would like to be able to present the situation with these arguments.”
Sabininhu and Valorant on Twitch
When sabininhu first started Valorant and streaming, Grasi and Márcio saw the activity as leisure that wouldn’t affect the routine of their child. After some time, they saw a different facet of the situation.
“Sabininhu has some very interesting personal characteristics,” Grasi said. “He has a knack for logical questions, with giftedness already identified in this, which also brings a price in social issues with that kind of personality.” Grasi added that the games and livestreams helped her son.
“I should be more professional and less emotional! My friends are helping me with this…”
As a teacher, Grasi saw that streaming Valorant played an important role in her son’s life. It went beyond simple entertainment.
“The game and the streams, in a way, deliver a challenge of logic, reasoning, quick thinking, and action. But [they] also [convey] a need for leadership, communication, and cooperation with other members. And we saw him in the middle of it dealing with the situation very well, having to deal with this exposure,” she said.
“The idea is not to have privilege over the other kids.”
Márcio de Oliveira
The arguments for Twitch
As noted, Grasi and Márcio don’t think that the rules of Twitch are wrong. However, they still want to plead their case via direct contact. For them, it’s important that the platform knows the service they provide goes a long way.
“The idea is not to have privilege over the other kids,” Márcio explained. “The idea is to see if that rule could not have an exception and if we could fit in this exception. Certainly, other children could also fit on it, too. This is because it is possible to put mechanisms in these lives that help in this shielding of the child. You can shield the chat from profanity, offenses, and messages that are not suitable for the age of the person who is [livestreaming].”
Sabininhu’s parents said they presented a case for Twitch through the available channels, but they haven’t heard back from a real person. Therefore, they made the case more public so Twitch would directly contact them.
Stay tuned on Esports.gg for the latest Valorant news and updates.
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