The Amazon video game streaming platform Twitch was fined over $300,000 for violating South Korean telecom law by removing the ability to view VODs, and there is a strong possibility that there could be more fines down the road should they decide to leave the South Korean market.
While Twitch has entrenched itself in the global market, that comes with a unique set of challenges as they have to ensure that they adhere to being compliant with regional laws. Twitch recently stopped services in South Korea, which is resulting in the company starting a potential wave of fines towards the company.
Twitch has been fined for 435 million Korean won for, essentially, making it so users in South Korea can’t access VODs on the platform which South Korea has determined is a direct violation of South Korea’s telecom laws by Korea’s Telecommunications Commission (KCC).
According to Yonhap, the KCC made the decision that the act of Twitch terminating the ability for users in South Korea to access VODs wasn’t necessary to keep the service alive, putting the onus on Twitch to gather and present evidence to support their decision to gradually take features away from users in South Korean and, ultimately, that leaving the country was indeed necessary.
It’s highly unlikely that Twitch will do that, and equally unlikely that they will return services to South Korean in the near future.
Despite that position, there is a possibility that Twitch may have to issue refunds for those that have been affected by the service being discontinued as the KCC warned the company that they need to prepare “user protection measures” as they cease service in the country.
