Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both the United States and European Union have taken action putting in place sanctions against the country. As part of this, the live streaming platform Twitch will reportedly withhold some payments to Russian streamers for the foreseeable future.
The new Twitch pay block was first reported by The Washington Post, which cited a Twitter post claiming to showcase an email sent to one Russian steamer.
“Twitch complies with the terms of the economic sanctions imposed The United States and other governments, and takes into account the sanctions imposed because of the situation in Ukraine,” a translation of the email reads.
In the message, a Twitch representative explains the company will continue to offer payments to Russian streamers using payment methods outside the US, however, since PayPal chose to suspend its services in Russia, there are seemingly no options.
Any money that the Russian-based Twitch streamers earn during this time will be paid out in full “once the opportunity arises,” the email adds.
Twitch is far from the first gaming company to take action against Russia. Over the past few weeks, many developers have pulled their titles from shelves in the country along with other measures to remove Russia from their games.
In response to sanctions, Russia has decided to block Facebook from being used in the country and Roman Teryushkov, a Russian, Duma state deputy, has called for Twitch to be banned also.
While this action hasn’t been taken yet, it could potentially be handed down in the near future, which would be more bad news for Twitch streamers in the country.
