Twitch is ruined for users in Germany because of very specific law

German Twitch viewers are seeing errors while trying to access their favorite streamers’ clips and VODs due to Germany’s NetzDG. A law that is an attempt to prevent and combat hate speech and fake news.

In July, German Twitch users started seeing limited access to certain clips and VODs on the platform, prompting an error code saying “This premium content is not available in your region.”

Viewers from the country began requesting help from Twitch Support, as they were left confused as to why they were restricted to crucial parts of Twitch.

Almost an entire month passed until the support team revealed that the restriction is due to the German Network Enforcement Act, also known as NetzDG. “We took a closer look at the problem and it is a restriction due to the NetzDG,” Twitch Support responded.

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German viewers began seeing this error code on the site in July.

What is NetzDG?

NetzDG is referred to as the Network Enforcement Act in Germany. The law passed in 2017 and is aimed to combat hate speech and fake news across social networks. The law’s main target was Facebook, with some referring to the law as the “Facebook Act”.

NetzDG requires all hateful content to be blocked within 24hrs, but Twitch has seemingly decided to block all highlights, VODs, and clips, even if the creator isn’t based in Germany.

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In July, German creator Gronkh received a message from Twitch, notifying him that a user in Germany reported the creator for violating the network enforcement law. Twitch reviewed the content and found no violations, so no action was taken.

Currently, the only solution for German viewers that are wanting to access the restricted content is to try their luck with an incognito browser, but content can also supposedly be geo-blocked if a user reports it.

If the content is geo-blocked, the only solution is to use a VPN.