Twitch.tv blocked in China

We have written here before about the uprising of streaming service Twitch, which although originally aimed at the online gaming and e-sports market, has since branched out in to all sorts of arenas such as "reaction" videos, TV highlights, and vlogging.

It has not had much of a share in the giant e-sports market in China, which is home to some of the most successful professional gamers in the world who have armies of loyal followers subscribing to their streams and buying their merchandise. However, when local Chinese streaming and broadcasting services failed to gain any rights to show the recent e-sports segments of the Asian Games in Jakarta, Twitch's Chinese following grew exponentially.

It seems as though the Chinese censorships regime's response to that unexpected and sudden growth has been to block access to Twitch entirely from within China. It is not understood why Twitch has been blocked, though it has been reported that China often effects these types of bans pre-emptively, to protect the economic interests of Chinese competitors.

YouTube is subject to a similar block in China, as are Amazon, Google, and Facebook. While many companies may decry being blocked in the second largest territory in the world, Twitch may actually see this as a meaningful acknowledgment that it has at last joined the digital elite.

If you have any questions on the above, please do not hesitate to contact the team at McDaniel & Co. on 0191 281 4000 or legal@mcdanielslaw.com.