Ever since its inception in 2019, Teamfight Tactics has been led by Stephen “Mortdog” Mortimer, lead gameplay director. Every patch and new set announcement has been headed by the developer, who goes above and beyond in his own coverage of each seasonal event.
The Riot dev may have to find a new way of delivering news, however, as YouTube has shut down his main avenue for announcing content for violating YouTube’s Community Guidelines. Mortdog tweeted the termination of his YouTube channel on July 3 due to “multiple or severe violations of YouTube’s policy on nudity or sexual content.” Any attempts to access Mortdog’s YouTube channel only brings up an error screen, with no evidence of the channel’s videos or existence.
Mortdog has always stood as a pillar of the TFT community, ready to tease the newest sets each season, delving into stats on character and augment picks, and explaining the balancing decisions that go into each patch. Fans have always looked to Mortdog for a developer’s opinions on the state of the game, how TFT combats issues and bugs, and what’s next for the future of the competitive and casual audience.
With the amount of public presence Mortdog has, though, players dissatisfied with the state of TFT can see him as the figurehead for the game, and lash out in retaliation. Although the reasons listed for Mortdog’s ban have no link to any of his content, a large number of false reports have still triggered YouTube’s automated moderation system, taking down his channel and all associated content.
Mortdog has since then tried three times to submit appeals but has not been able to receive any confirmation from YouTube about the future of his channel or the status of all his past uploads over his four years in developing TFT.
This is far from the first time that influential community figures have been falsely reported for violating community guidelines. CS:GO podcast Talking Counter had its channel terminated for violating the community guidelines on Feb. 2 but with no official reason disclosed for the termination. Host and caster Chad “SPUNJ” Burchill added how there were no warning emails or notices about the content before the ban, and that the podcast was permanently banned from YouTube.
Talking Counter was eventually able to get their channel back after multiple appeals and attention on Twitter, and once again are uploading their podcast as if nothing happened. With the massive community outcry and support concerning Mortdog’s ban, it could only be a matter of time before his channel is fully reinstated.
If Mortdog does not get his YouTube channel back, he will still have his Twitch stream and the official TFT Twitch channel to continue reporting news on, but the reach of his content will be heavily stifled unless he chooses to start from scratch and create a new YouTube channel and try again.
Update July 4, 1:45am CT: Mortdog confirmed on Twitter in the early hours of Tuesday that his appeal to have his channel reinstated was denied, and that YouTube will not be restoring his videos.
While the official statement from YouTube read that the appeal was “carefully” reviewed, it is unclear just how in-depth this review was. Mortdog plans to continue fighting his wrongful ban.
