Twitch reportedly imposes account sign-up ban on Israel and Palestine for over a year

It has been reported that Twitch has been restricting new account registrations from Israel and Palestine since October 7, 2023. According to 404 Media, users in both regions have been unable to create new accounts using either phone or email verification, resulting in error messages. In a recent social media statement, Twitch explained that it had "temporarily disabled email verification for new sign-ups in Israel and Palestine" following the October 7 attack, citing the need to prevent the upload of graphic content and ensure user safety. The company clarified that while sign-ups were not completely disabled, email verification had "inadvertently" not been reactivated for either region. Twitch expressed regret over the issue and confirmed that it has since been resolved, allowing affected users to sign up with email verification. Additionally, the platform reassured that its Community Guidelines are consistently enforced, with content being reviewed and action taken as necessary. However, 404 Media claims that attempts to create a new Twitch account from Israel using a VPN were still being blocked, with neither phone nor email verification working. This is not the first instance of Twitch dealing with graphic content being streamed on its platform, having previously addressed similar incidents in 2022 and 2019.