Nine-year old Spirit prodigy banned on FACEIT

On February 5th, Spirit announced the signing of nine-year-old Am1r_Han as an academy prospect, seeing the Kazakh preteen become one of the youngest players ever to receive a contract for professional esports. The youngster, who was born in 2016, has reportedly been playing the game since an extremely young age and has reportedly been receiving lessons from Abay "HObbit" Khassenov's brother.

While the news is exciting and the player's potential is undoubtable, the attention Am1r_Han received from the community has put the player on FACEIT's radar, with FACEIT banning the youngster until he turns 13 in 2029.

While some, including the player's father, have lamented the talent being unable to use the FACEIT platform for the next four years, it must be said that FACEIT are obliged to follow their policies when it comes to protecting children and personal information. In the United States, for example, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act is fairly stringent on how websites treat users under 13 years old and what kinds of information they may collect on those users. Additionally, as CS2 is a game made for mature audiences, FACEIT would likely invite a high degree of scrutiny by allowing someone as young as Am1r_Han to become a high-profile star on their platform.

In response to the ban, Am1r_Han's father and other parents of young CS players have released an appeal of sorts about the matter, but it is unlikely FACEIT will budge on their policy, meaning we may have to wait a while before seeing Am1r_Han back on the platform.