Streaming service Twitch has told the United States army to stop trying to recruit viewers on its channel.

As reported by The Nation, the US Army had been repeatedly asking viewers to take part in a competition to win an Xbox Elite Series 2 controller. Clicking through to try and win the gamepad took users to a recruiting form. There was no mention of the giveaway at all.

All three main branches of the US military – the Army, Navy and Air Force – have channels on Twitch for their esports teams. They also seem to police the chat pretty strictly for mentions of the United States' role in atrocities around the world.

In an email to Kotaku, Twitch said that the aforementioned competition was a violation of its terms of service.

“Per our Terms of Service, promotions on Twitch must comply with all applicable laws,” the platform wrote.

“This promotion did not comply with our Terms, and we have required them to remove it.”