Jio appears to be blocking Twitch streams in India
What's the story
Telecom giant Reliance Jio appears to be blocking Twitch streams in India. The issue started a few days ago, with a number of Jio's cellular and broadband connection customers complaining about problems while loading live streams, especially during the night time. So, what is it? Why is Jio attacking the Twitch community? Let's find out.
Issue
Streams blocked for several people
Since last week, several users of Reliance Jio, Jio Fiber, and Hathway Fiber (also owned by Reliance Industries Limited) have complained about Twitch streams being blocked. Apparently, the website and app of Twitch are not loading properly, leaving the live streams completely inaccessible. What is even strange is the fact that the problem only seems to be occurring at night, after 6-7 pm.
Response
Reddit, Twitter flooded with complaints
The issue has been reported by dozens of people, with complaints flooding Reddit, Twitter, and India Broadband Forum. Many questioned the move by the company, given that Twitch is working fine on other networks, while others expressed frustration over losing access to their live favorite streamers and threatened to ditch Jio's services if the issue is not fixed.
Twitter Post
A glimpse of the issue
I'm porting my @reliancejio number to @BSNL_AS tomorrow, and thanks for ruining my night Jio @airtelindia @Twitch, you really don't deserve the hype. 🤬😡
— ABXTRX (@iamabxtrx94) September 26, 2020
MISSED THE LAST HOUR ARGHHJHHH#ABGT400 pic.twitter.com/6A4a1EmNbf
Reason
Users think IPL could be the reason
Several affected users have suggested that Jio could be blocking access to Twitch to purge illegal IPL streams and keep people from viewing them. IPL 2020 began on September 19 with Disney+ Hotstar as its official digital streaming partner. However, some nefarious users have been live-streaming the matches on Twitch, raking in more than 1.5 lakh viewers per video.
Response
No response from Jio yet
Meanwhile, Reliance has not commented on the matter or explained why Twitch streams are being blocked at night, just around the same time when IPL matches are played. If the reasoning is proved to be correct, Jio would have to explain why it chose to block the service instead of simply asking Twitch to ban the illegal content in question.
Twitter Post
Here's what one frustrated user said
Reliance Jio banned Twitch in India so there can be no piracy of IPL. I don't know where to begin lul.
— ᴋᴜɴᴊᴀʟ (@ChildOfMyParent) September 27, 2020
Next up doctors killing everyone who's injured or sick.