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Twitch has responded to allegations that it has blocked new users from signing up in Israel. On October 20, 2024, a news article from Ynet was posted on the r/LivestreamFail subreddit, reporting on the situation. According to Ynet, Israel-based netizens who attempted to register on the Amazon-owned platform received an "inexplicable error message."
Redditor u/Sequensy shared a screenshot of an alleged error message displayed when attempting to create a Twitch account from Israel. The screenshot also showed code elements from the livestream platform, which appeared to indicate that Israel was classified as a "blocked country."
Twitch addressed the controversy earlier today (October 21, 2024), stating that they "temporarily disabled signups with email verification" in Israel and Palestine following the incident that occurred on October 7, 2023.
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While acknowledging that they "did not re-enable email verification sign-ups for either region," Twitch expressed "deep regret," writing:
"We deeply regret this unacceptable miss, and the confusion it has caused. We’ve fixed the issue, meaning all affected users can sign up with email verification. We’ve also heard concerns about whether our Community Guidelines apply to all content on our service. We continue to enforce our rules as consistently as possible, and are actively reviewing content and taking enforcement action where needed."
Twitch "addresses concerns" after reports stating that they blocked Israeli users from signing up to the platform surfaced on social media
Twitch's tweet, dated October 21, 2024, started with them aiming to "address the concerns" of users being unable to sign up in "some regions." They then described the action they took on October 7, 2023, writing:
"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 temporarily disabled sign-ups with email verification in Israel and Palestine. We did this to prevent uploads of graphic material related to the attack and to protect the safety of users."
The Amazon-owned platform admitted that it did not re-enable email verification sign-ups for users in Israel and Palestine:
"Signups were not disabled, and we continued to see sign-ups from both regions. Users could choose to sign up with phone verification. We’ve learned that, inadvertently, we did not re-enable email verification sign-ups for either region.
On October 19, 2024, YouTuber and H3 Podcast host Ethan Klein accused Twitch CEO Dan Clancy of "hating Jewish people," while discussing Nico "Sneako" and the Fresh and Fit Podcast being unbanned from the platform.
