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In recent years, the Twitch streaming platform has become one of the most popular websites in the world, but it has suffered a major setback. The website was banned in China, the latest in a series of restrictions to crack down on games. As China is one of the largest gaming markets in the world, being excluded from the market is a blow.
The ban appears to have occurred without too much notice, with Abacus saying it was passed in the wake of a period of rapid growth for Twitch in the region. Both Twitch's website and mobile app became inaccessible early in the week as the app disappeared entirely from the iOS app. The details are still pretty thin at the moment, with Twitch confirming to Abacus that he was banned but that he did not specify the situation.
Although Twitch was not as popular in China as in other regions, everything changed recently, last month. Many e-sports fans in China turned to Twitch to watch the Asian Games, which featured the eSports competition for the first time this year. This interest in the Asian Games has contributed to Twitch's growing popularity in China, so perhaps it is not surprising that it was banned as a result of this wave of interest.
In any case, Twitch is not the first foreign website to be banned in China. He joins Facebook and Twitter, both banned for several years, and Reddit, blocked last month. Google is another site that has been perpetually banned in China, but recent rumors say the company is working on a separate version of its search engine that aligns with Chinese government restrictions.
We'll see how it all goes, but with the Chinese government's recent hard line against gambling, Twitch is unlikely to be back online. Stay tuned, because I hope Twitch will have more to say on the subject in the near future.
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