- Twitch joins the wave of punishments against the government led by Vladimir Putin.
- The decision made by the Amazon platform has taken Russian streamers by surprise.
- PayPal, American Express, Nike, Netflix, Spotify and Electronic Arts are just some of the companies that have suspended their services in Russia.
One more: Twitter joins the technology companies that are punishing Russia for the attacks against Ukraine.
The whole world is still aware of everything that happens in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine that is about to celebrate two weeks since the Russian invasion began.
Throughout these days, various personalities from different industries have spoken out against the actions taken by the government led by Vladimir Putin, in addition to the fact that, increasingly, companies of all kinds have also blocked the Russian country as a measure against the attacks in Ukraine.
Just to mention a few, PayPal, American Express, Nike, Netflix, Spotify, Electronic Arts, among many others, announced important punishments against Russia and, in fact, more companies are expected to join as the days go by.
Today, in a context in which, according to official figures, 21 deaths were reported from the bombings in Ukraine, a technology company joins the blocks against Russian users.
Is about Twitch, the Amazon-owned streaming content platform that gained popularity during the pandemic, has cracked down as a response against the invasion of Ukraine.
What about Twitch users in Russia?
And it is that, according to what has been disclosed in some media, Twitch has decided to withhold payment from its users in Russia.
Although the Russian streamers had already been warned, the reality is that this measure took them by surprise; they did not expect their income to be withheld so quickly.
The Washington Post shared the letter written by a Russian streamer in which he explains, in more detail, the decision of Twitch taken in the wake of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine:
“Payments to the financial institution associated with your Twitch account have been blocked as a result of the sanctions.
Twitch complies with economic sanctions imposed by the United States and other governments, and is complying with those imposed in response to the situation in Ukraine. These penalties may limit or affect your access to payments, ability to monetize your stream, and/or financially support other creators,” the message reads.
On the other hand, as published by the Washington Post, Twitch says it understands the frustration it could generate in Russian streamers. Given this, he mentions that users could use an alternate financial institution and, with this, the Amazon platform would do everything possible to make payments as soon as possible.
In fact, PayPal was one of those alternative options, but yesterday it was confirmed that the company also suspended its services in Russia.
In short, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues to escalate and generate more blockades against the administration of Vladimir Putin.
One of the streamers who were affected by this Twitch decision is the popular Alexey Gubanov, better known as Jesus AVGN, and has 1.4 million followers. In an interview with said medium, the content creator recounted his experience:
“For many years I have been against the Putin regime, so I had to flee my home country, and yet I still have to answer for all the terrible actions of Putin, even in another country,” he said.
Globally, Twitch has more than 26 million users, of which more than nine million stream content at least once a month.
It is worth mentioning that 41 percent of Twitch streamers are between the ages of 16 and 24. In other words, we are talking about a platform dominated by Generation Z.
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