Amazon-owned live-streaming platform Twitch has been banned in Turkey by the country’s National Lottery Administration.
On February 23rd, Turkish journalist Ibrahim Haskoloğlu reported that the ban was issued due to concerns regarding Twitch’s gambling content.
Haskoloğlu first reported on the situation via X (formerly Twitter), claiming that access to Twitch would be removed within 24 hours.
In the past, the streaming platform has received criticism regarding gambling activities that Twitch creators have broadcasted. Following increased public backlash by notable streamers, Twitch updated its gambling policy, banning the broadcast of sites with slots, roulette, or dice games.
US-licensed websites, as well as sites focused on poker, sports betting and fantasy sports, were not affected by the updated policy.
Most recently, Twitch also prohibited the promotion and sponsorship of skins gambling platforms for games such as Counter-Strike.
Twitch’s reported ban in Turkey was two days after the country reportedly blocked rival streaming platform Kick for similar reasons. According to Haskoloğlu, Turkish officials stated: “Kick’s entry into Turkey was to attract Turkish youth to roulette.” Like its competitor, Kick has been the subject of debate within the streaming community, particularly due to its ties to online gambling website Stake.
Following the ban, Kick removed gambling content from its Turkish site to regain access to the country on February 26th. However, as of this writing, Twitch seems to have taken no such action and therefore remains banned.
Twitch has undergone several turbulent periods as of late. After laying off 400 employees in the Spring of last year, the platform continued its cost-reduction strategy with the decision to leave the Korean market.
This move led to a 435m won (~£257,000) fine imposed by the Korean Telecommunications Commission. The body determined Twitch’s exit from the country to violate South Korea’s business law by ‘undermining the interests of users’.
