Twitch Apologizes for Year-Long Account Sign-Up Restrictions in Various Regions

Streaming service Twitch has expressed its “deep regret” for unintentionally blocking user registrations from Israel and Palestine, labeling the incident as an “unacceptable miss.”

On October 20, 2024, the Twitch Support team took to X (previously known as Twitter), to apologize for the “inadvertent” restriction that affected account creation for users in these regions.

The official statement aimed to clarify concerns circulating online regarding whether Twitch was indeed “preventing account sign-ups in certain areas.”

In their message, they disclosed that after the attacks on October 7, 2023, Twitch had “temporarily disabled sign-ups” in Israel and Palestine in an effort to “restrict the upload of graphic content related to the attacks and safeguard user safety.”

They emphasized that registration was not entirely “disabled,” mentioning that users could still generate new accounts utilizing phone verification for added security.

We wanted to address concerns we’ve seen about whether we’re preventing Twitch account sign ups in some regions. When signing up for a Twitch account, you can select an account verification method – email or phone – for added protection. Following the October 7, 2023 attacks, we…

— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) October 21, 2024

However, they acknowledged that they “inadvertently” failed to reinstate email verification in these areas, describing it as an “unacceptable miss” that they “deeply regret.”

Twitch confirmed that this issue has been rectified, allowing all impacted users to sign up with email verification, while also addressing worries about the uniformity of their Community Guidelines.

“We remain dedicated to enforcing our policies as consistently as possible, conducting content reviews, and taking necessary enforcement actions.”

This announcement from Twitch came shortly after political streamer Destiny claimed on his podcast that Twitch had intentionally barred Israeli and Palestinian users from creating new accounts on the site.

wait lol okay so I assumed honestly it was just an error or something, is it seriously Twitch policy to block Israeli’s from making accounts?????? this HAS to be a mistake, no?????? pic.twitter.com/Adh6mOfOjh

— Destiny (@TheOmniLiberal) October 20, 2024

In response to Twitch’s announcement, numerous users online voiced their discontent, criticizing the company for taking “a year to pinpoint this issue.” Many deemed the platform’s message as “weak and pathetic.”

This controversy coincided with a recent 14-day ban imposed on streamer Asmongold for making “racist” remarks during a broadcast.

Moreover, the community urged Twitch to take action against other prominent streamers, such as Frogan, for comments he made on X regarding the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine.

As of this writing, Twitch has not released further statements concerning the re-enablement of sign-ups in these regions. We will provide updates to this article as the situation develops.

Source