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The popular livestreaming platform Kick has reportedly been blocked in Turkey. The update comes from Turkish journalist Ibrahim Haskoloğlu. On February 13, 2024, Haskoloğlu took to X to claim that the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA), known as Bilgi Teknolojileri ve İletişim Kurumu (BTK) in Turkish, had launched an investigation against the Twitch competitor.
He wrote (Haskoloğlu's tweets have been translated from Turkish using Google Translate):
"BTK launched an investigation against Kick, which works with international gambling companies, includes gambling on its platform and entered Turkey in recent months."
On February 21, 2024, Ibrahim Haskoloğlu reported that Turkey blocked access to the Stake-backed livestreaming platform. He tweeted:
"Turkey blocked access to Kick, the Kick platform owned by the International Gambling Company. Turkish officials I spoke to stated that Kick's entry into Turkey was to attract Turkish youth to roulette."
"Twitch's record is not clean either" - Netizens react to Ibrahim Haskoloğlu's claims of Kick's access being blocked in Turkey
Ibrahim Haskoloğlu's tweet on February 21, 2024, received over one million views and responses from more than 345 netizens. X user @ridvanyagli responded, writing that an "investigation phase is necessary" for Turkish streamers broadcasting on Kick:
Haskoloğlu replied, writing:
"There is no problem with publishers. Most of those who moved there did so because of Twitch's irresponsibility. It is pointless to blame them for this. Broadcasting during the access ban period will cause trouble."
A few minutes later, @ridvanyagli responded, stating that Twitch's record "is not clean either." They added:
"Unfortunately, Twitch's record is not clean either. There is almost no one who does not know that online casino and slot broadcasts are available, especially on Kick. If some publishers knowingly switched to Kick, I think they are suspicious."
The news was also shared on the r/LivestreamFail subreddit, where Redditor u/Bugsie_Bunnie shared a screenshot of the message that appeared when trying to access the platform in Turkey:
Here's the message in Turkish:
Here's the English translation:
At the time of writing, Kick had not responded to Ibrahim Haskoloğlu's report. What they have to say about the situation remains to be seen.
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