Chinese regulatory authorities block access to Twitch and the Twitch app within mainland China after the live-streaming service’s popularity surges in the country.
Popular online live-streaming service Twitch has been blocked in mainland China following a surge of popularity within the country. Chinese government censors first blocked access to Twitch’s website earlier this week, followed by removing the Twitch app from the Apple App Store not long thereafter. While no official comments have been provided by Chinese authorities, Twitch has been able to officially confirm that its services are no longer available within the region.
Twitch drew the attention of Chinese censors following its steep climb in rankings on Apple’s App Store, reaching third overall in the free games category. This came as a result of Twitch being used to rebroadcast live coverage of a special esports demonstration event during the Asian Games, which were otherwise inaccessible to view in China. China Central Television reportedly owned the broadcasts rights for the Asian Games within China and chose not to show portions of the eSports demonstration. As such, international broadcasts being restreamed through Twitch, likely illegally, were the last resort for Chinese fans. One Twitch rebroadcast of the Asian Games League of Legends competition reportedly reached over 500,000 viewers.
Following the Asian Games, the Twitch app continued to be downloaded at an impressive rate. It’s unclear whether it was Twitch’s growing relevancy in China that led to regulators blocking it or if it was the non-approved re-streams in particular that drew censors’ attention. Either way, Twitch’s return in China is unlikely barring a grand effort to rework the streaming service specifically to meet Chinese regulatory bodies’ expectations.
Twitch is just the latest western service to be blocked by Chinese censors within the country. For example, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook are also inaccessible in China, while services like the Steam PC storefront and even Google have had to work heavily with regulatory bodies to become available. Chinese authorities have even gone so far as to freeze the approval process that new games require to be released within the country.
It’s important to note that while the blocking of Twitch in China is unfortunate, Twitch was still a relatively small player in the Chinese live-streaming market. Chinese-focused services including Douyu, YY, and Huya are each incredibly popular and are alike Twitch in many regards. China’s issue with western services appears to be their broad social features, which runs contrary to China’s insular efforts. In other words, Twitch’s ban will likely seem like a much larger of an issue than it is to Chinese citizens who will continue to have broad access to live-streaming.
