Twitch fined by South Korea for scaling down its services in the country – IT Pro – News

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Livestream platform Twitch has been fined approximately 300,000 euros by South Korea. Amazon’s subsidiary is said to have violated telecom laws in the country. Twitch will stop operating in that country next week due to ‘excessively high’ network costs.

To reduce costs in South Korea, Twitch lowered the source quality to 720p in 2022. The platform has also removed the option to watch live streams. According to South Korea, the platform has violated local telecom laws, according to the South Korean news medium Yonhap.

According to that law, reducing or terminating services for users is only allowed if the company can provide substantial evidence that those measures are necessary to stay afloat. South Korea’s telecom watchdog KCC asked Twitch for such evidence, but the livestreaming platform refused to respond due to “contractual confidentiality obligations,” Yonhap writes. The KCC therefore imposes a fine of 435 million won on Twitch. In addition, the Amazon subsidiary will be fined 15 million won, about 10,000 euros, because it has not implemented a system that prevents the distribution of illegal images.

Twitch announced last December that it will stop completely in South Korea from February 27, 2024. The previous measures were not enough to reduce costs sufficiently. Network costs in the country would still be ten times higher than in other parts of the world. The KCC wants Twitch to take several measures to protect its South Korean users, such as issuing refunds.

Twitch has been trying to reduce costs for some time, because the platform is currently unprofitable. For example, it will lay off 35 percent of its staff this year, no longer give major livestreamers exclusivity contracts and will pay streamers a smaller percentage for some subscriptions.

Earlier this week concluded Turkey to ban livestream platforms Twitch and Kick in the country. The government is said to be concerned that gambling streams on these platforms will cause young people to gamble themselves. The platforms are immediately blocked in the country.