Twitch Halts All Payments for Russian Streamers

Twitch has now joined a long list of other companies that are taking a stand against Russia's conflict with Ukraine. Twitch announced this past weekend that they will follow major banks and international payment processors' decision to inflict sanctions on Russia. For now, that means Twitch will be withholding all payments to Russian streamers until the situation changes. Twitch had informed streamers via email that they will no longer be processing payments on all withdrawal platforms.

Thanks to The Washington Post, the contents of the email have been released, which states:

“Payouts to the financial institution associated with your Twitch account have been blocked as a result of sanctions,”.

The email goe's on to say,

“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.”

One of the last options to receive payments for streamers was through PayPal. However, the company announced this past weekend they will be upholding these sanctions as well. Now Russian streamers have no way of receiving funds and no timetable for when they will be able to. Most likely, the sanctions will be upheld until the conflict in Ukraine has dissolved, but for now, there is no timeline to that.

Twitch also addressed the concerns of Russian streamers in the email, stating that:

“we appreciate how frustrating and difficult this is and would like to reassure you that if you can’t provide an alternative financial institution, we will do our best to pay you revenue you have earned as soon as we are permitted to do so.”

Russia has already blocked access to Facebook, but Twitch might be next. As one Russian Politician, Roman Teryushkov has called for the country to block access to Twitch as well. This would make it so Russian streamers can't generate any income despite already not being able to receive payment. Things are likely to keep getting worst as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues.

So what are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below or over on our socials here.

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