xQc couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start on Kick. The platform’s marquee signing could be facing a ban after streaming The Dark Knight movie in its entirety during his first-ever stream yesterday.
The French-Canadian star was about an hour into the film during his stream on June 19 when a Kick staff member entered the chat and pinned a message saying: “We would like to notify you that streaming the specific content is in violation of our DMCA policy. Therefore, we kindly ask you to stop your live stream and be aware that we will need to remove the current VOD containing this content.”
xQc stopped streaming the movie immediately and admitted the platform’s swift response “made sense.” The entire VOD, including clips, were promptly removed. It didn’t mention anything about a ban, but according to Kick’s DMCA policy, if he does it again, his channel could be suspended—similar to how Twitch handles it.
The incident comes after Adin Ross controversially streamed the Super Bowl on Kick on Feb. 12 without receiving any form of punishment. Trainwreck, who co-owns the platform and serves as an official spokesperson, said there was a “special circumstance” in that scenario but didn’t reveal what it was. He also insisted DMCA laws do exist on Kick and they will be enforced. xQc learned that the hard way.
The juicer warlord signed a massive two-year, non-exclusive contract with the platform that will see him earn $70 million and potentially up to $100 million if he hits certain incentive marks. Too many DMCA strikes and a potential ban could jeopardize that, but it seems like xQc was just testing the waters during his first stream and won’t do it again.
Kick isn’t the lawless platform some people expect it to be. It has established itself as a formidable rival to Twitch and YouTube since bursting onto the scene in late 2022, and that means more eyes—including DMCA claimants—are on it, so it has to play by the rules like everyone else.
