Twitch Withholding Some Payments To Russian Streamers

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both the United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions against the country. According to reports, the live streaming platform Twitch would withhold some payouts to Russian streamers for the time being.

The Washington Post was the first to report on the new Twitch pay block, citing a Twitter post purporting to depict an email issued to one Russian steamer. 

According to a translation of the email, “Twitch complies with the terms of the economic sanctions imposed The United States and other governments, and takes into account the sanctions imposed because of the situation in Ukraine,”

A Twitch employee adds in the message that the company would continue to offer payments to Russian streamers using payment methods outside of the US, but that there are currently no options due to PayPal’s decision to suspend its services in Russia. Any money earned by Russian Twitch streamers during this time would be paid out in full “as soon as the opportunity arises,” according to the email.

Twitch isn’t the first online gaming firm to take a stand against Russia. Many game companies have pulled their titles from shelves in Russia in recent weeks, as well as taken additional steps to remove Russia from their games. 

Russia has opted to stop Facebook from being used in the nation in response to penalties, and Roman Teryushkov, a Russian state deputy in the Duma, has called for Twitch to be banned as well. While no action has been taken yet, it is possible that it will be taken soon, which would be bad news for Twitch streamers in the country.