By Sagar V. Mankar Live streaming giants Twitch and Kick were recently banned in Turkiye, allegedly over concerns that they promote unregulated gambling.
The Bans
On February 21, journalist Ibrahim Haskoloğlu reported on X that Kick had been blocked in Turkiye.
He stated that “Turkish officials I spoke to said that Kick’s entry into Turkey was to attract Turkish youth to roulette.”
Just two days later, Amazon-owned Twitch met the same fate.
Haskoloğlu said the Turkish government began investigating Twitch after Kick streamers complained of gambling happening there too.
This was not the first time the Turkiye has banned popular social media platforms.
Earlier, X, YouTube, and Facebook all have faced similar restrictions.
Most Recently, the Govt. blocked one of Turkiye’s most popular social media websites, Ekşi Sözlük, citing reasons of “protection of national security and public order.”
Twitch’s Stance on Gambling
Twitch has taken steps to crack down on unregulated gambling streams.
In October 2021, they prohibited sharing referral links or codes to unlicensed gambling sites.
Later in 2022, Twitch outright banned streams of sites that offer slots, roulette, or dice games without proper licensing and consumer protections.
Sports betting, poker, and fantasy sports streams are still allowed under Twitch’s policies.
The goal was to eliminate streams from crypto casinos like Stake, Duelbits, Rollbit, and Roobet – which had become hugely popular on the platform.
The Migration to Kick
Despite Twitch’s policies, gambling streams remain popular on the platform. However, many big-name streamers migrated to Kick, enticed by higher payouts.
Kick was founded by former Stake executives, so it eagerly welcomed the gambling content banned on Twitch. The platform is also known for its lax moderation, leading to issues like racism and misogyny running rampant.
Current Situation
After 3 days, on Feb 26th Turkiye lifted the ban on Kick but Twitch’s ban remains in place since the site does not completely remove gambling content.
Despite Twitch’s policies, gambling content remains easy to find on the platform.
But If Twitch follows the Govt. compliance it will soon make a comeback.
For now, Turkish gamers and streamers will have to explore other platforms.