AOC amendment banning military from advertising on video game streaming platform fails

Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat, noted that the Marine Corps had already opted to remove its advertisements from some platforms targeted at young people. She argued that pairing military advertisements with video games that often include war-like simulations was dangerous for young people.

“War is not a game. Twitch is a popular platform for children FAR under the age of military recruitment rules. We should not conflate military service with ‘shoot-em-up’ style games and contests,” she tweeted. “The Marines pulled out of Twitch for a reason. It’s time to follow their lead.”

Ocasio-Cortez credited her amendment’s defeat in part to the lack of technological knowledge among some of her older colleagues in Congress. She called the vote a “strong start” because it garnered support from more than 100 other members.

“Imagine trying to explain to your colleagues who are members of Congress what Twitch is,” she wrote, later adding, “it’s totally fine if you don’t know what Twitch is. But tech literacy is becoming an growing need in Congress so we can legislate to protect people’s privacy, etc.”

“When our legislative bodies aren’t sufficiently responsive to tech, then that means we don’t have the tools required to protect people. This is partially why companies know way more about you than you may even be aware of – bc it’s legal, and Congress is struggling to keep up,” she wrote.

Ocasio-Cortez has other legislation targeting the recruiting practices of the U.S. military, including a proposal that would cut funding to the military for recruiting in high schools.