Kick, a live streaming platform that prides itself on having looser moderation policies than its competitor Twitch, is revisiting those policies after a popular streamer seemingly paid a sex worker to come to a hotel room, where she was briefly prevented from leaving, all while Kick’s CEO was commenting and laughing about it in that stream’s chat.
The incident took place during a live stream by Paul Denino, known online as Ice Poseidon, an IRL live streamer who courts controversy and who has been banned multiple times by Twitch and YouTube. Like many other streamers who were banned by bigger platforms, Denino is currently streaming on Kick. In recent weeks he has streamed his travels across Australia with other online misfits. Denino, who was the subject of a New Yorker profile, often gets in trouble while streaming because he’s filming in public, getting in fights, and getting swatted, but his stream took a dark turn last week when he paid a woman, seemingly a professional sex worker, to come to his hotel room.
A camera in the corner of the living room shows Denino’s friend, Andy, opening the door for the woman and letting her in while Denino and another friend are behind a closed door to the bedroom. Andy pays the woman $500, and clearly points at the camera and asks if it’s okay to livestream. After a few minutes, Andy and the escort begin making out and someone starts making loud snorting noises, which I presume was intended as a “prank.” The woman, startled, looks at her phone and says that someone is texting her that there are people in the other room, and that she should leave. She walks to the door, at which point Andy blocks her way.
“I gave you $500,” Andy says.
“This is creepy,” the woman responds.
“Why is it creepy? It’s you and me and no one else,” Andy replies.
In archived versions of the stream, Kick CEO Ed Craven is seen in the chat posting laughing emotes several times during the encounter with the sex worker. The company did not address 404 Media’s question about Craven’s involvement in the chat (Craven recently met Denino in Australia) or a question about the platform’s content moderation policies.
Denino did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but tweeted a clip from the stream showing him asking if he could film the escort when he called her over. The video also shows him coming out of the bedroom after she left, telling Andy he shouldn’t have blocked her way when she tried to leave, and that he was about to come out of the bedroom when he saw him do so.
Kick did not address the incident directly, but tweeted a brief statement after people online, including some of Kick’s own streamers, criticized the company for the stream. An archive of the video is still available on Kick’s website.
“Regarding the incident you mentioned, it's important to note that our company takes content moderation seriously. We continuously review and refine our policies to ensure they align with our community guidelines and standards. This includes considering various factors, such as the nature of content, its impact on our users, and its compliance with our Terms of Service,” Kick told 404 Media in an email. “However, the specifics of our policy changes or the internal discussions that lead to them may not always be disclosed for privacy and confidentiality reasons. We aim to maintain a fair and consistent approach to content moderation while respecting the privacy of our users and employees.”
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Queensland, Australia, where Denino filmed this stream, decriminalized sex work earlier this year.
“Likely because of this model, sex workers are treated like humans in Australia, versus in the U.S. where we're treated like garbage,” Olivia Snow, research fellow at UCLA’s Center for Critical Internet Inquiry and dominatrix, told 404 Media. “The fact that Queensland does allow sex workers to openly exist is already significant to me because it means that the audience and the streamer and the state are all seeing her as a person. The crime that they can identify here would be false imprisonment rather than the crime of prostitution, which would be the case here.”
If this is the first time you’re hearing about Kick, this incident might seem outrageous, but controversial content is its defining feature and reason for existing.
Kick was founded last year by Craven, who is also the co-founder of crypto gambling site Stake.com. Last year, after pressure from its own community, Twitch banned gambling streams from its platform. On Kick, by contrast, gambling content isn’t only allowed, gambling streams are some of the most popular types of content on the site. Earlier this year, Kick paid $100 million to Twitch streamer Félix Lengyel, known as xQc, to stream exclusively on Kick, where he now plays slots games.
In addition to Denino, Kick has become home to other controversial streamers who have been banned from other platforms. Adin Ross, who was permanently banned from Twitch in February, now streams on Kick, where he recently broke viewership records for interviewing a Kim Jong Un impersonator alongside Andrew Tate. The stream was promoted by Kick itself.
While Denino’s stream was shocking to other Kick streamers who now share a platform with him, anyone who is familiar with his history shouldn’t be surprised. His YouTube channel still has a couple of videos, archived from other live streams, with titles like “How I spent my day with a $300 escort.”
“There's incredible untapped potential in what live streaming has to offer. We're firm believers that the greatest days of live streaming are yet to come,” Kick wrote in a tweet sent Sunday. “With that said, community & public safety cannot be compromised in the process of making ‘content’. We're continuously learning where this balance sits and are making changes daily. We appreciate our community for the continuous feedback, both the good & the bad. We'll keep you updated on upcoming changes to community guidelines and subsequent enforcement measures.”
Samantha Cole contributed reporting.
