Russia has blocked the Twitch website, Russian streamers are miserable

Telegram, a popular Russian messaging service, has been asked by the Russian government to allow access to users’ encrypted chat data. But Telegram refused. That prompted Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor to block a large number of IP addresses belonging to Google and Amazon. This has led to annoyances for Russian streamers.

“Yesterday, the Russian authorities began to block IPs throughout the territory of Telegram (an encrypted messaging app) and Amazon (and Google). With 20 MILLION IPs and IP ports locked, resulting in services using Amazon and Google servers crashing,” streamer Angry Roleplayer wrote on Reddit. “Unfortunately, Twitch is currently blocked for the vast majority of Russians, myself included!”

Angry Roleplayer said the number of blocked IPs is different from the source from Reuters. Reuters reported that “18 sub-networks and a large number of IP addresses were affected.” But it seems to be happening on a larger scale, after an initial attempt to block Telegram directly failed.

“Telegram uses technology that allows changing IP addresses with smartphone functions. Telegram can change IP unlimitedly. It is not clear how Roskomnadzor was able to block the app completely,” Telegram investigator Sergei Solonin told Kommersant (on Interfax). It’s quite strange that they didn’t realize it before. Everything is known from the very beginning.”

Solonin said it was possible to block Telegram through Apple and Google, but he described the idea as “crazy”. He left open the possibility that a “business” motive was what caused the Telegram blocking to happen, but the head of Roskomnadzor denied any motive.

Blocking IP doesn’t necessarily affect everyone, as some Russian streamers are still able to access Twitch channels. Redditor Siberian_644, says the service is still active in Omsk, but Twitch is down where his friends and “people from the Russian Street Fighter community.” YouTube, owned by Google, appears to be the exception; Angry Roleplayer said he temporarily uses YouTube to stream for the time being.” Some say VPNs can dodge IP blocking, but the results are not encouraging, and there is a lot of skepticism about the legality of VPNs in Russia.

It is not clear how long this IP block will last. Zharov said he hopes to get “legitimate responses” on the matter from Amazon and Google. This really affects Russian streamers as their main source of income comes from Twitch.