Twitch has suspended payment to Russian streamers as a result of US economic sanctions imposed on Russia due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Twitch joins a growing list of international companies who have suspended and restricted services and sales to Russia and/or Belarus with no end date on when the sanctions will be lifted.
Restrictions hit Russian livestreamers extremely hard
Twitch sent an email to all streamers impacted by this decision, as supplied by The Washington Post (note: Jeff Bezos owns both Twitch and The Washington Post):
“Payouts to the financial institution associated with your Twitch account have been blocked as a result of 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 sanctions may limit or impact your access to payouts, ability to monetize your stream, and/or financially support other creators.”
Understanding that this might be a crippling financial situation for many Russian streamers, the company promises to do its best to provide payment to them “as soon as we are permitted to do so.” However, options for proper payment have been dwindling as PayPal also suspended its services in Russia on Sunday.
Alexey “Jesus AVGN” Gubanov, one of the most popular Russian Twitch streamers, said that “many advertisers have left the Russian market and my Visa and Mastercard cards will soon be blocked abroad.” Though he lives in the United States and is an outspoken critic of the Putin regime, Gubanov will still feel the brunt of all the Russian sanctions: “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.”
In other news, you can support Ukraine by purchasing a charity bundle that combines almost 1,000 games in a $10 package and both Microsoft and Nintendo have suspended sales and services to Russia.
