Twitch has apologized for preventing the creation of new accounts in Israel and Palestine due to the ongoing conflict.

When creating an account, users can select an email or phone verification method. However, in a statement shared on attack and protect user security. .

However, until recently, this check had not been re-enabled.

The statement continues: “Registrations were not disabled and we continued to see registrations from both regions. Users could choose to register with phone verification. We learned that we inadvertently did not not re-enabled email verification registrations for either region.

“We deeply regret this unacceptable failure and the confusion it has caused. We have fixed the issue, meaning all affected users can sign up with email verification.”

Perhaps all of this was simply an honest mistake on Twitch’s part to re-enable verification in a timely manner, and indeed, Twitch has been working towards greater transparency with its community for some time.

However, users responded to the statement suggesting that phone verification was also blocked and not just email verification, which undermined sentiment somewhat. Eurogamer has contacted Twitch for further comment.

Twitch’s protective measures here are perhaps unsurprising. A shooting at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019 was broadcast live on Facebook; later the same year, a shooting outside a synagogue in Germany was broadcast on Twitch.

Nonetheless, Twitch’s policies have come under fire following racist and anti-Semitic comments from popular streamer Asmongold. While he was rightly banned from the platform for violating its terms of service, some have questioned the consistency of Twitch’s policies.

“We have also heard concerns about whether our community guidelines apply to all content on our service,” Twitch’s statement continues. “We continue to apply our rules as consistently as possible, and actively review their content and take enforcement action where necessary.”

Security and transparency were major topics when I spoke with staff at this year’s TwitchCon Europe.