Why Buster Gets Banned on Twitch

Vyacheslav "Buster" Leontyev is one of the most popular Russian-speaking streamers with an audience of over 4.6 million subscribers. But his career on Twitch is not only about online records and expensive purchases, but also constant bans. In six years, the streamer has accumulated at least five official bans, including one lasting a month and a half. We analyze the chronology of Buster's conflicts with the platform and the reasons why he gets banned again and again.

Overall statistics: five bans in six years

According to ban tracking services, Buster has been banned five times during his time on Twitch. Here is the full chronology:

First ban — from January 22 to January 23, 2020, lasting 1 day. The reason in sources is marked as "historical data" (the exact violation was not preserved).
Second ban — from March 18 to March 19, 2020, also 1 day. Similarly — "historical data."
Third ban — from April 25 to June 14, 2023, lasting about 50 days. This was an indefinite ban related to Roskomnadzor's demand and online casino advertising.
Fourth ban — from April 24 to April 25, 2025, lasting 1 day. A temporary ban without an officially announced reason.
Fifth ban — from April 29 to May 2, 2025, lasting 3 days. Another temporary ban.

Meanwhile, in 2026, no bans have been recorded on Buster's main channel yet.

2020: The first bans — a "warm-up"

Buster's first bans went almost unnoticed by the general audience. In January and March 2020, the streamer received two one-day bans. According to tracking services, the reasons for these bans are marked as "historical data" — meaning the exact violations were not preserved in open sources.

Most likely, these were standard bans for minor violations of Twitch rules — for example, profanity or controversial content. For a streamer of Buster's level at that time (he was just gaining popularity), these were "warning signals" from the platform.

2023: A big ban for a month and a half

The most serious ban in Buster's career occurred in April 2023. On April 25, his channel was blocked indefinitely.

What was the reason?

Officially, Twitch stated "violations of community guidelines or terms of sale" in the ban message. However, the real reason was related to Russian legislation.

Ekaterina Mizulina, head of the Safe Internet League, reported that the accounts of Buster, Egor Kreed, and PlohoyParen were blocked after their pages were added to Roskomnadzor's register of prohibited websites. The reason for inclusion in the register was illegal online casino advertising.

As early as February 2023, Mizulina submitted a list of 15 major bloggers who were engaged in illegal advertising of casinos and drug stores to the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). Buster was on this list. Mizulina also complained about streamers to Roskomnadzor and demanded restricted access to their accounts on Twitch, Telegram, and Kick.

The prosecutor's office also joined the case, organizing an investigation into streamers for possible violations of tax legislation.

Consequences for the channel

The ban lasted 50 days — from April 25 to June 14, 2023. After unblocking, Buster's channel became available again, but with an important caveat: past broadcast recordings and clips were not saved, and the number of followers dropped from 3.4 million to 13.7 thousand. The streamer effectively started from scratch.

Buster himself reacted to the ban with irony — he staged a "funeral" for his channel, and together with Egor Kreed, posted a video on Telegram where both were laughing, and a message with the letter "F" — a reference to the game Call of Duty, where the F button is used to pay respects.

2024: Ban of the second channel for "hacking and manipulation"

In May 2024, an unusual incident occurred — the ban affected not Buster's main channel, but his second account. The streamer himself announced the ban on Telegram.

Twitch's wording
The reason for the ban was stated as: "hacking and platform manipulation." According to Twitch rules, this category includes exploiting vulnerabilities, DDoS attacks, distributing links to malicious software, and other similar actions.

The streamer's version
Buster explained the ban by stating that he tested a broadcast on a new computer, and this triggered Twitch's automatic security system. According to him, the ban was erroneous.

However, the consequences turned out to be more serious than just blocking a secondary account. Twitch prohibits banned users from appearing on any channels, meaning Buster could not stream even on his main account during the ban of the second channel.

The duration of this ban remained unknown, and there were no official comments from Twitch.

2025: Two short bans in a row

2025 brought Buster two more bans — and they occurred within just a few days.

The first ban of 2025 happened from April 24 to April 25 — a 1-day ban. The reasons for this ban were not officially disclosed; tracking services mark it as a "temporary ban" without specific wording.

The second ban of 2025 occurred just a few days after the unban. From April 29 to May 2, Buster received another ban — this time for 3 days.

An interesting detail: this ban ended on May 2, and a year earlier, in April 2025, the streamer already had bans. This creates a kind of "April tradition" — three of Buster's five bans occurred at the end of April.