US Army wanted Twitch streamers to help recruit

The US Army reportedly wanted to pay Call of Duty Twitch streamers, YouTubers, and gaming news websites to help drive recruitment

New documents have reportedly revealed that the US Army had planned to use Twitch streamers, YouTubers, and even gaming news websites to help drive recruitment.

Internal US Army documents obtained by Motherboard purport to show that the military branch planned to spend millions of dollars sponsoring gaming-related content, with the aim of driving recruitment primarily among Generation Z gamers. The proposed sponsorships include that of Twitch streamers, YouTubers, an esports team, and even gaming website IGN.

Motherboard points to two high-profile streamers who were reportedly mentioned in the documents, Call of Duty streamers Stonemountain64 and Swagg, both of whom have over 2 million subscribers on Twitch. They also reportedly mention Alex Zedra, a Twitch streamer who has provided her likeness to a character in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and who describes herself as an “All-American, 2A [second amendment] Gun Slinger”.

Many advertisers and recruiting agencies see Twitch as a way to connect with younger generations. Photo: Martin BUREAU / AFP

At least one of these streamers would have been offered $150,000 USD (AU$220,000) to promote US Army recruitment, according to the report. It also claims that esports team OpTic Chicago would have received $300,000 USD (AU$440,000) from the US Army, and it planned to spend a further $600,000 (AU$880,000) on gaming news site IGN.

Motherboard reports that the US Army’s spending spree ultimately did not go ahead as intended, after an August 2021 email expressed concern about allegations of sexual harassment at Activision. The US Army reportedly intended to “pause all activities” with Activision, the publisher of Call of Duty.

Activision has come under heavy fire in the last two years over accusations of harassment, sexism, and poor working conditions. Photo: Ina FASSBENDER / AFP

As reported by TheGamer, this isn’t the only time that the US Army has tried to use games, and specifically Twitch, to recruit younger generations. Gamers started an internet challenge in 2020 to see how quickly they could get banned from the official US Army Twitch channel, by asking about US war crimes or typing the names of people killed in drone strikes.

Twitch recently introduced new safety tools for streamers, as part of an initiative called “Shield Mode”. Shield Mode allows a Twitch streamer to quickly lock down their chat with the click of a button and mass-ban anybody who uses specific phrases or words in their chat.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.