Twitch Bans Russian State Media in Move Against Harmful Misinformation Spreaders

The EU has announced sanctions banning RT and Sputnik amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

By Reuters | Updated: 4 March 2022 11:27 IST

Twitch Bans Russian State Media in Move Against Harmful Misinformation Spreaders

The new rule would block Russian state media from establishing a presence on the site

Highlights

Twitch will ban users who spread harmful misinformation on the platform
The new rule would impact fewer than 100 channels at launch, say Twitch
The EU has announced sanctions banning RT and Sputnik

Amazon's Twitch will ban users who persistently spread harmful misinformation on and off the live video streaming site, in a move that blocks Russian state media from the platform, it said on Thursday.

Twitch, which is popular with video gamers, said the rule would prohibit users whose online presence is dedicated to pushing widely debunked misinformation with clear risks of real-world harm, such as conspiracies that promote violence.

A Twitch spokesperson said the new rule would block Russian state media from establishing a presence on the site because the outlets had been persistently spreading misinformation away from its service.

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

The spokesperson said Russian-owned media outlets were not prominent on the platform but that it was removing one channel with minimal activity that it believed had ties to Russian state-controlled news network RT.

RT said earlier on Thursday that it would join video site Rumble, which is popular with US conservatives, in a move that follows restrictions on the outlet by major online platforms including Facebook and Twitter.

The EU has announced sanctions banning RT and Sputnik, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Moscow says its actions in Ukraine are a "special operation."

Amazon Closing Scores of Shops in US, UK in Retail Strategy Shift

Twitch said its new rule against "harmful misinformation actors" would impact fewer than 100 channels at launch. In April, the streaming service announced it would ban users for behaviour that happened away from its site.

Gaana CEO and Spotify's India chief join us on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast, to discuss India's unique music streaming landscape. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.