Fortnite Twitch streamer and hugely popular gaming TikToker Chica seemed to get some surprising news yesterday—Twitch removed one of her emotes, a cartoon chick with big, wet eyes and its tongue sticking out, for “inciting abuse.”
“Based on a review of its content, we have removed your emote ‘chicaL’ from Twitch,” the notice Chica received said. “Reason: Disallowed content – Targeted insults, bullying, and threatening or inciting abuse.”
“???” is all Chica had to say in response when she posted a screenshot of the notice on Twitter, also adding a link to her channel on alternative gaming streaming service Kick. She did not respond to Kotaku’s request for comment in time for publication.
It’s true that chicaL isn’t an entirely innocent emote. The fluffy-haired chick seems to be frowning a bit as it holds one of its puffy wings to its forehead in an L-shape, which might be an offensive act to some eighth graders, who are indeed allowed to use Twitch under its 13-and-up policy. It seems like a stretch, though, and most of Chica’s fans and fellow streamers were confused.
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“Finally, I felt so insulted when people would put that emote in my chat!” Fortnite streamer Scoped said sarcastically.
“That’s actually so ridiculous,” commented variety streamer LuluLuvely.
Other streamers suggested that, despite Twitch’s cryptic message, chicaL wasn’t removed for being a tyrant, but for representing the single letter “L.”
“I think they’re removing any emotes with single letters because people would use them to write bad stuff,” Call of Duty streamer Natarsha said. “I had my F emote removed too.”
“They took mine too :(” streamer and YouTuber dakotaz said about his similar “wolfL” emote.
“They took my W, L, F,” confirmed virtual streamer GirlyBella.
Twitch did not respond to Kotaku’s request for comment, but its existing emote guidelines prevent creators from releasing “emotes containing a single letter with a graphic, or multiple single letter emotes that combine to make a word.” The mystery, then, is why chicaL was specifically ousted for “bullying,” etc., and not being a single letter. The curse of being too cute, perhaps.
