Twitch quietly blocked new users from creating new accounts on the live video streaming service since October 7, 2023 to prevent them from uploading “graphic material,” the company revealed late last night.
“Following the October 7, 2023 attacks, we temporarily disabled sign ups with email verification in Israel and Palestine,” Twitch’s support account tweeted Sunday night, following 404 Media’s request for comment. “We did this to prevent uploads of graphic material related to the attack and to protect the safety of users.”
404 Media tried to create a new Twitch account from Israel using a VPN last night and was blocked. This morning, after Twitch’s response, we tried again and were able to create a new account.
While some users on social media have reported that they haven’t been able to create new Twitch accounts from Israel as early as May, Twitch was pressured to explain what was happening last night after the issue went viral on social media, Reddit, and Israeli media. The latter also tied the news to recent accusations of anti-semitism against Twitch for recently unbanning Sneako, who’s been known for making anti-semitic statements, and a recent Twitch event where panelists rated streamers from “Arab” to “Loves Sabra,” an Israeli hummus brand.
However, as users reported previously and as Twitch’s tweet explains, Twitch didn’t just block new users from Israel, but Palestine as well.
It makes sense that Twitch would take action to block streaming from Israel and Palestine on October 7, given the company has a sordid history of streaming mass shooting events, like the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand, and that Hamas fighters documented much of the October 7 attacks with body cams, which quickly made their way online. However, Twitch claims that it forgot to re-enable signups from the region since then.
“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,” Twitch said. “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.”
Samantha Cole and Joseph Cox contributed reporting to this piece.
