Twitch is now banned in China

Twitch is undoubtedly the leading streaming site in the West, but the site only recently found a foothold in the East. Specifically, Twitch has seen an explosion in popularity in China over the past few months. However, that growth was killed yesterday when the site and mobile app were both banned by China’s government yesterday.

Twitch confirmed that the service is now blocked in China, but the reasons why are still unclear. Twitch recently saw a large spike in popularity as it was the only avenue through which to watch the Asian Games eSports tournament this past August. Chinese gamers flocked to Twitch to cheer on their favorite players at the tournament, which was held in Jakarta last month.

As of September 20th, Twitch’s app was removed from China’s iOS App Store and Twitch’s website is inaccessible. While the Chinese government hasn’t given a reason for the ban, many are speculating that the ban is a precautionary block that the authorities typically institute on Western media that becomes popular. China is known for banning Western websites and social media, and this may be no different.

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