It's hard to a week without hearing about another Twitch streamer being banned for some seemingly mundane reason. Thanks to unclear rules and inconsistent enforcement, the streaming platform has become infamous for these bans. This time, though, the entire site is the one that's banned, with the users in Slovakia completely unable to access it. Strangely, this site-wide ban is all due to one streamer, as he was found illegally playing online poker while on stream. There's a great bit of humor to be found in the situation, but it is also a serious issue for those Slovakians that can no longer access the site to watch their favorite streamers.
The streamer in question is dDandis, a Twitch partner with around 35,000 followers. He hasn't been banned from the Twitch platform yet, but his actions did somehow result in the entirety of Slovakia being banned from the site indirectly. At the time of writing, the only internet service provider to have followed through with this so far is O2.
It seems that the block was supposed to apply only to dDandis' account, but instead went out to the entire site. It's unclear whether or not other ISPs will follow suit by banning the entire site or instead limit it to just dDandis. Supposedly, the ban went into affect because of dDandis' online Poker streams, which are in violation of the Slovakian laws about promotion of gambling.
As previously mentioned, many are finding the situation both hilarious and ironic. For Twitch to find itself on the other end of a ban hammer thanks to a set of confusing rules that are being enforced in confounding ways seems like fate. On the other hand, there are countless Slovakian streamers and viewers alike that can't access the site. While this may only interrupt entertainment for some, it could affect the livelihood of others. There are already calls for Twitch to settle this issue with the Slovakian government as soon as possible.
Slovakia frequently blocks gambling sites in this manner, but it seems like there might have been a misunderstanding about what Twitch actually is. There is still no word about what might happen to dDandis and his streams, so his viewers may want to stay tuned to find out for themselves. With any luck, the situation will sort itself out soon, but until then Slovakian Twitch users will have to find their entertainment elsewhere.
Source: Zive