VPNs seem a fairly common reason. I am mostly curious how you came to the conclusion that Linux use was a factor since that is not a common ban reason.

You probably got swept up in the Suspicious User heuristics that Twitch uses now. Mods and Broadcasters should still see your chats. Message a moderator of the channel and explain the situation. They can remove your account from the shadowban from that channel.

It probably means lots of users from that VPN’s gateway IP have been reported/banned/manually added to the Suspicious User restriction list.

I doubt it has anything to do with Linux, and I guarantee it’s not a move to flip you off for trying to guard your privacy as an innocent person.

The issue is that a lot of the things you can do to hide your identity online are the same things people doing bots or harassment do, because they work.

So, their system learns that pattern and when you match it you get caught up. There is no good way to tell users apart when doing offensive security like this, other than waiting for accounts to start spamming the n-word in chats and ruining the stream experience, which is the thing this system is mean to prevent.

Don’t get caught up in privacy paranoia - there are much bigger fish they’re trying to fry than someone who just doesn’t want ad networks tracking them.

For what its worth, I have seen the same thing with a VPN. Sometimes changing servers will work. They also flat out block logins if they don't like your browser settings.

I just gave up on using the site. If they tell you you don't need protection, YOU NEED PROTECTION.