Twitch Gets Hit With Huge Fine from South Korea

gamerant.com:

Streaming giant Twitch has been fined over $300,000 by the South Korean government for violations of federal law, as the platform prepares to terminate its services in the country. Twitch is ending service in South Korea on February 27, and this massive fine has once again raised eyebrows in response to the streaming service's decision.

One of the most prominent streaming platforms across the globe, Twitch allows users to livestream a variety of content, store VODs, and interact through chats with emotes and more. While the platform has been popular in South Korea, Twitch recently made the decision to end service in the Asian country, though the process appears to be more tumultuous than the company had expected.

First reported by Korean outlet Yonhap News Agency, the Korean Telecommunications Commission (KCC) ruled that Twitch's reduction of stream quality in 2022 and termination of VOD access for Korean users back in 2023 violated Korean telecom laws. As part of this ruling, the KCC has issued Twitch a fine of 435 million won, or $327,000, and is requiring Twitch to prepare to pay out refunds to affected users. The Korean law requires any independent telecommunications platforms to provide substantial evidence that reduced or terminated user services are a necessity to continue operations. However, Twitch declined the request for evidence to support its changes for Korean users, resulting in the ruling and fine. This fine comes in tandem with Twitch getting banned in Turkey for violations of more local laws.

The KCC fine is yet another blow to Twitch's financial struggles, which have been the subject of speculation over the past several months. It was recently revealed that Twitch may be raising prices in the US, as it is already increasing costs for users in other countries such as the UK, Australia, and Canada. Back in January, CEO Dan Clancy admitted that Twitch is not profitable, noting that the streaming service was heavily dependent on parent company Amazon to