Twitch halts payments for Russian streamers
Online streaming platform Twitch banned Russian streamers from transferring their money to Russian bank cards on Saturday, gamers reported.
The decision was made known by Russian streamer Alexei Gubanov, also known as JesusAVGN, on his Telegram account. The streamer uploaded a screenshot of an official Twitch response about the issue.
“Twitch complies with the terms of economic sanctions imposed by the US and other governments, and takes into account the sanctions introduced due to the attack on Ukraine. These sanctions can limit or influence your access to your payments, your ability to monetize your live stream, and/or provide financial support for other content creators,” the statement clarified.
Twitch representatives added that it was possible to continue receiving transactions if the user changed their payment method and selected one that wasn’t currently under sanctions, however.
“We understand the complex and unpleasant situation you’ve found yourself in. If you can’t provide an alternate financial organization, we assure you that we will do everything possible to pay out the income you have earned as soon as we are allowed to do so,” the Twitch response concluded.
In the wake of Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine, the US, the European Union and others in the West have imposed a number of unprecedented economic sanctions on Moscow, including barring several of the country’s banks from the global payment system SWIFT, and closed their airspace to Russian aircraft. Several international brands such as Apple, IKEA, H&M, Airbnb, and PayPal have this week suspended their operations in Russia over the Ukrainian conflict.
