A large number of streamers based out of the Middle East received bans on Thursday. According to streamer journalist Zach Bussey, the stream bans appear to be related to tax avoidance, though this has not been officially confirmed by Twitch. The bans come amid multiple streamers from the region reporting issues with getting paid last month.

"The mass of streamers being banned right now has to do with the Tax Avoidance situation in the Middle East. The vast majority will be temporary suspensions," Bussey claimed on Twitter.

Based on the Twitter account streamer bans over 200+ accounts were banned from the platform on Thursday morning, all within only a few minutes of each other. According to Twitch streamer Zurt, who shared his message from Twitch, he received a 3-day ban for "Fraud" related to "in purchases or payouts" adding credence to the idea that this is related to some type of tax evasion issue.

Many streamers in the region received a similar message in February related to their monetization, in which Twitch stated, "we see that your account has been blocked from receiving payouts due to a discrepancy with certain tax information provided during the onboarding process. In light of this discrepancy, we are unable to issue payment." Based on that message, Twitch is withholding payments, rather than completely demonetizing the streamers, due to apparent tax issues.

This story is still developing as of writing this article. We will update it as we learn more information from Twitch.