Thousands of Twitch viewers tune in to watch a sneaky livestream of Walmart

A Twitch user has installed streaming software on a Walmart store’s demo computer, prompting thousands of fans to tune in and watch the store’s aisle.

The stream, hosted by Twitch user walmart00012, is titled ’24/7 Great Value™ Broadcasting System #01′ and has been broadcasting since last night (April 2).

However, just after 12PM BST the stream was taken offline by Twitch, with the streaming site claiming it is “temporarily unavailable due to a violation of Twitch’s Community Guidelines or Terms of Service”.

Before it was removed, the stream had just under 4000 viewers – gaining thousands in its final hour – and showed the tech aisle of a Walmart store. An in-stream clock stated the time had just passed 7AM — suggesting it was being broadcast from somewhere on America’s east coast.

Besides the Walmart aisle, the livestream also featured a mirror of the Twitch channel’s chat, where thousands of viewers were finding ways to entertain themselves.

Part of the fun revolved around Walmart’s in-store speakers. In the last 30 minutes, viewers have cheered when The B-52‘s ‘Love Shack’ played over in-store speakers and typed along lyrics to ‘Manic Monday’ by The Bangles.

For other viewers, the chat was an opportunity for more serious discussion — some users are calling for Walmart’s employees to unionise, while others are using the platform to protest French president Emmanuel Macron following weeks of riots in Paris.

Elsewhere, the store’s more innocuous noises have proven popular. Hundreds of messages reading “CART” are posted whenever the computer’s microphone picks up a shopping cart, with some fans trying to guess whether it’s a cart or pallet that’s passing by off-screen.

In the hours since it started broadcasting, a small community has appeared around the Walmart livestream. Hundreds of fans joined a Discord channel to discuss the Walmart’s activities; while one viewer has created a Spotify playlist of every song that plays in the shop.

Currently, it is unclear if the stream will be returning.

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