AOC wants the military to stop recruiting with esports
Move comes after the Army and Navy found itself in a first amendment controversy
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., proposed a measure Wednesday to ban armed forces from using funds to maintain "a presence on Twitch.tv or any video game, esports or live-streaming platform."
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.”
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Ocasio-Cortez's office did not immediately respond to a Fox Business request for comment Thursday.
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.
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"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.
Uhl did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
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.
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"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 Rod Breslau reported Wednesday that the Army's Twitch account temporarily halted activity due to "potentially unconstitutional bans."
"The team has paused streaming to review internal policies and procedures, as well as all platform-specific policies, to ensure those participating in the space are clear before streaming resumes," a U.S. Army spokesperson told Gamespot.
The Army and Navy did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.
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CORRECTION: Rod Breslau, is an esports consultant. An earlier version of this story was updated to correct his name.