Twitch is a massive livestreaming platform used by millions of people every day, but Ocasio-Cortez said she didn't think the military should be recruiting through video games streamed on the website.
“It’s incredibly irresponsible for the Army and the Navy to be recruiting impressionable young people and children via live streaming platforms," Ocasio-Cortez told Vice. "War is not a game, and the Marine Corps’ decision not to engage in this recruiting tool should be a clear signal to the other branches of the military to cease this practice entirely.”
The Twitch channels run by the Army and Navy found themselves in a First Amendment controversy this week after banning an activist, Jordan Uhl, from their stream for posting about military misconduct.
"If the military is going to use one of the world’s most popular platforms to recruit kids, then it shouldn’t be able to do so without some pushback," Uhl wrote in The Nation after the ban.
The Knight First Amendment Institute wrote a letter to the Army and Navy Wednesday slamming the ban as a violation of Uhl's free speech rights.
"It is clear that the @USArmyEsports and @AmericasNavy Twitch channels are government-operated public forums for First Amendment purposes," the lawyers at the Knight Institue wrote. "We ask that you immediately unban Mr. Uhl from the @USArmyEsports and @AmericasNavy channels and that you also unban all others who have been banned from the channels based on similar speech."
The Navy, Army and Air Force all still had Twitch channels as of Thursday night, but esports consultant Rob Breslau reported Wednesday that the Army's Twitch account temporarily halted activity due to "potentially unconstitutional bans."
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