Those that were banned were posting the same emoji 100 or so times in different comments!!!. Of course that is spam and of course they shuld have been banned.
YouTube has banned plenty of accounts over the years who spam the livestream chats.
In maripliers case, he should have been banned/terminated for encouraging the spam. HOWEVER, those accounts that got banned for spamming his livestream are being reinstated. Those who have been banned over the previous years for doing the same thing are not being reinstated. I have a problem with that.