Users from Turkey were unable to access popular streaming platforms Twitch and Kick starting today. The move is reportedly a part of the Turkish government’s fight against gambling on social media.
Kick was already down in Turkey in the past week. Now Twitch finds the same fate, as both platforms were deemed to promote gambling contents to their younger demographics.
Why did Turkey ban Twitch and Kick?
The Twitch and Kick ban is directly connected to the gambling laws in Turkey. Gambling is strictly prohibited in Turkey. Sports betting is allowed, but that is handled by the IDDAA, the state-run organization that handles football and horse race bets. Any other organization is not allowed to run bets or online gambling slots.
Kick is directly connected to an online cryptocurrency-based casino known as Stake. It also sponsors some of Kick’s popular streamers, including Adin Ross and Trainwreckstv. There is quite a bit of gambling content in their stream too, which may have prompted the authorities to take such action.
As for Twitch, the platform does not allow slots and other gambling-related streams. This was after top Twitch streamer Pokimane spoke out against the gambling prevalent on the platform. One of the tweets relating to this received 293K likes and started the movement, which forced Twitch to change its rules.
This may surprise users about the Twitch ban, but it still allows some form of gambling content. That may have forced Turkey to impose this ban.
Streaming community reacts to Turkey’s ban on Twitch and Kick
Many users visiting the sites this Saturday were surprised when a message posted by the Turkish authorities showed up when they tried to access Twitch and Kick.
The ban was further confirmed by Netblocks on X. They showed Twitch was unreachable through different Turkish telecom companies.
Others were not amused, as a netizen from Germany thought of it to be a joke.
One of them stated that they missed out on the legitimate streams on Twitch due to the ban.
What are your thoughts on the Twitch and Kick ban in Turkey? Let us know in the comments.
