Twitch, the Amazon-owned video live-streaming platform, has reinstated sign-ups from Israel on Monday, after it was reported that the platform had disabled access from Israeli IP addresses for over a year.
This comes after multiple people reported being unable to sign up to Twitch due to their Israeli IP being blocked.
Twitch Support posted a statement on X/Twitter on Monday addressing the issue, admitting that, following the October 7 massacre, it had "temporarily disabled sign-ups with email verification in Israel and Palestine."
Twitch added that it had "inadvertently" forgotten to re-enable email sign ups, calling it an "unacceptable miss."
According to the platform, the ban was originally intended to prevent uploads of "graphic material related to the attack and to protect the safety of users."
Twitch noted that while it had disabled email verification, it had not at any point disabled phone verification.
Had to check it for myself and saw that Twitch actually blocks users from registering using Israeli IPs. They don't show it in the UI (a generic error is shown) but it does appear in the raw HTTP response. Crazy. https://t.co/oiVmC3IKHO pic.twitter.com/OmYIs9JoGV
— withdraw_safe (@withdraw_safe) October 20, 2024
However, one Twitter account added context to the Twitch statement, disagreeing that phone sign-ups had been possible.
"The ban was based on IP addresses, not email addresses (which in most cases cannot be geolocated based on the address only). Sign-up was impossible even when using a phone number."
Commenters on Reddit also expressed doubt over Twitch's reasoning; one user wrote that if Twitch wanted to block violent content, they could do this by preventing streaming, not banning user registrations.
Criticisms of Twitch's statement
Social media users took to comments sections to express frustration at the ban and at the response by Twitch itself. Some wrote that Israelis had been contacting Twitch support for over a year and had been "instantly denied and their tickets closed."
One posted a screenshot of an email response from Twitch Support, which said it had reviewed the user's case "thoroughly" and decided they were "not eligible to create a Twitch account," and closed the case.
Many expressed incredulity that the platform had forgotten to reenable sign-ups for over a year, calling it "deliberate."
Others questioned why the ban was only applied to one region and not to the war in Russia and Ukraine or other regional conflicts.
In May 2024, a Twitch user named Forceee wrote on Twitter that many of his viewers were unable to sign up to watch him after he made the move from YouTube.
"I’ve been streaming for the past three years and have transferred my viewers from YouTube to Twitch 2 years ago," he wrote.
"I discovered around a month ago that A LOT of my longtime viewers have not been able to sign up to Twitch because they’re located in Israel, which is insane."
Issues with moderation
One of the most prolific criticisms of Twitch on social media on Sunday and Monday concerned the moderation of the platform, which for a while has been brought into question. Twitch users have consistently raised concerns about the lack of policing over antisemitic content, and the allowance of support for terrorism, for example with the continued platforming of streamers like Sneako and Fresh and Fit.
Sneako, who was unbanned recently following a suspension, has videos in which he says "down with the Yahood" and praises Yahya Sinwar. Following the death of the former Hamas head, Sneako, who has 45k followers, said, "Sinwar inspired [him] so much, may he rest in peace."
Twitch user and podcaster Ethan Klein said on his podcast H3 on Saturday, "Dan Clancy, the CEO [of Twitch], I think he hates Jewish people.”
Popular live streamer and former Twitch streamer Destiny, who is supportive of Israel, said, "It is absolutely unbelievable to me that @Twitch and @TwitchSupport allow blatant Terrorist propaganda to be broadcast across their platform."
The Jerusalem Post reached out to Twitch for comment.