Amidst everything happening with Blizzard and their actions toward those expressing vocal support for the ongoing protests in Hong Kong, one recent act undertaken by the company that may have gone under the radar. A couple of bans were handed out to at least two Hearthstone forum users who have expressed support for Hong Kong that will keep them off of the official Blizzard forums for a whopping 1,000 years.
Hearthstone forum poster Daros was handed out their millennium-long ban for posting the words "By the way... Liberate Hong Kong," in the opening to a thread titled "Enjoying Your Yuans Blizzard?" alongside a mockup image of a Hearthstone card that, when played, will "silence all democracy minions" and "add 5 coins to your hand." While one aspect that may have contributed to the ban alongside their support for Hong Kong is the post's criticism of Blizzard as a company, this is far from the only post critical of Blizzard made during the past week.
Another user, Yega, was handed out a similar ban lasting more than 12 times the average human lifespan for starting a thread titled "Solidarity With Blizzard, Censored By Blizzard." The contents of the thread are significantly longer, and somewhat hidden in the image they shared online of their post by a pop-up window announcing the 1,000 year ban, but nonetheless seem to express points similar to those being made by many as the hashtag #BoycottBlizzard was trending online. The reason given for the ban was "trolling."
In Blizzard's official statement, they claimed that Hearthstone pro Blitzchung's punishment was simply due to having made a political statement, and not the nature of that statement. While they naturally didn't mention these two Blizzard forum members, given their much lower profile compared to Blitzchung's, in at least one past case, a different forum user's ban for trolling lasted for a much shorter seven days. This may indicate that the content of both Hearthstone forum users' posts did have an impact on the severity of their bans.
This has since spurred some on the Blizzard forums to bait 1,000 year bans from Blizzard, though the extent of the bans handed out to subsequent posters has yet to be widely shared.
Source: Respawn First