Twitch has apologized for discreetly blocking users from Israel and Palestine from signing up to the platform with email verification since Oct. 7, 2023.
In a statement on X, the platform claimed that it did this “to prevent uploads of graphic material related to the Oct. 7 attacks, and to protect the safety of users.”
“We’ve learned that, inadvertently, we did not re-enable email verification sign ups for either region,” Twitch said in the statement. “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.”
Who discovered Twitch was blocking email verification from Palestine and Israel?
The issue was first flagged by creator Destiny in an X post on Oct. 20. In the post, he shares a screenshot of a purported email by Twitch, implying that creators in Israel can’t make an account.
Accompanying the screenshot, Destiny added, “This HAS to be a mistake, no???”
Dan, the co-host of Destiny’s podcast, added in his own post that he had “99% confidence” that the people of Israel are unable to make an account — saying that he heard this through “multiple sources.”
In a Oct. 21 report, news outlet 404 Media claims that its reporters tried to create a Twitch account from Israel using a VPN. They said that while this attempt was unsuccessful, they were able to make an account the next day after Twitch released its statement.
