Twitch suspends payments to Russian streamers

Twitch is now the latest platform to move away from Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine. The massive streaming site informed content creators with a Russian bank account that it would stop sending payments to them due to sanctions put forth by the U.S. government.

Transfer denied — Russian streamer JesusAVGN posted an auto-translated screencap of the email he received on Twitter. In the message, Twitch told the streamer that he would need to specify a new payment method in order to receive the funds. The email further states that the company will do everything it can to pay streamers the money they're owed as soon as it’s allowed to do so.

As a story in the Washington Post reveals, this effectively cuts off the livelihood of full-time Russian streamers. PayPal suspended payments to Russia over the weekend, which many streamers viewed as the last possible option for them. Unfortunately for them, Russian authorities have already shown a willingness to suspend access to social media sites like Twitch entirely — the country's communications agency has already blocked Facebook.

Twitch is one of many American companies to cease operations in Russia due to sanctions. Coca-Cola, McDonald's, and Starbucks announced similar moves earlier this week. Several streamers told the Washington Post that they plan to continue streaming, even though they have no idea when they'll actually be paid for their work.