India’s largest conglomerate Reliance, which also happens to operate Jio, JioFiber & Hathway Networks, are somehow coincidentally blocking all Twitch streams. There has been no official statement, but multiple reports have confirmed that Twitch streams are getting blocked with Error Code #2000.
UPDATE: Twitch is back on the ISPs
Net neutrality in India is regulated by the government agency TRAI, Telecom Regulator Authority in India, which entails, no company can block internet users from visiting. Therefore, Reliance appears to be blocking a stern guideline set by the regulators. There are no confirmations from Reliance-owned ISPs yet, but several reports on the internet confirm that Twitch isn’t working on their network.
Two of our team members, who happen to be on one of the Reliance’s owned networks, confirmed that they were indeed blocking the service. The error code on Twitch flashes a #2000, which says “There was a network error, please try again. Error #2000.”
The site starts misbehaving post 06:30 PM (IST) which is co-incidentally when IPL starts broadcasting from Dubai.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that several channels on Twitch were streaming Cricket blockbuster tournament Indian Premier League, IPL, which is exclusive on Hotstar. Therefore, Reliance took an action but stretched it too far. In a right move, Twitch should’ve been supposedly the one monitoring the streams through their content matching systems, but it appears, Hotstar & the IPL management weren’t too impressed with the job, and asked the ISPs to hammer the streams.
Although there are no confirmations or update from Reliance on the banning of the site, the Twitch streams, regardless of the content, are still not available. ESL Pro League Season 12, for that matter, is also not available. Apparently, Reliance could get their license canceled, according to the rules which are set by the Telecom Regulator Authority of India.
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