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Twitch blocks creating new accounts from Israeli IP's

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Re: Twitch blocks creating new accounts from Israeli IP's

#51

Post by biimugan »

Sabinus wrote: post #14

[flagged]

For anyone that's confused, there was an event at TwitchCon where some streamers (including one Jewish person) created a tier list. The tier list ranked other streamers according to whether they should be given a "pass" to say the word 'habibi'. The categories included things like 'Arab', 'Arab-coded', and at the bottom 'Loves Sabra'. Sabra, in this case, is a well-known brand of (supposedly not good) hummus (I don't like even good hummus, so I don't know). There's a conspiracy theory (subscribed to by OP) that 'loves Sabra' was actually some kind of code-phrase for a Jewish person because there's a similar sounding Hebrew word that refers to a Jew born in Israel. This led to a lot of people getting very mad.

I say this is a conspiracy theory because if you listen to even five minutes of this (pretty unfunny, admittedly) panel, it's abundantly clear that they are indeed talking about bad hummus, not Jews. In fact, they rank a few known Jewish streamers as Arab or Arab-coded -- i.e. allowed to say 'habibi' -- and vice versa. And, as mentioned, one of the panelists is also Jewish.

There's also the fact that I don't think most people would know this Hebrew word, but would definitely have heard of the brand. So if this is some attempt to promote antisemitism, it seems pretty lousy. If this was an attempt at antisemitism, it also doesn't make much sense to single out only Jews born in Israel. Antisemitism doesn't make this distinction (at least that I've ever heard). It usually focuses exclusively on 'global cabals' and the 'new world order' and conspiracies of that nature.

Re: Twitch blocks creating new accounts from Israeli IP's

#52

Post by n2d4 »

Seattle3503 wrote: post #28
dtquad wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The block was hardcoded into the source code on October 13, 2023. I think it would have been done by one of the ops teams if it was required by management. Probably just something done by a single dev.

Is there a source for this?

Googling it returns this HN comment, so probably not. They are correct though when saying that the block has been in place for at least a few months now: https://x.com/Forceultraomega/status/1795189735297605635

Re: Twitch blocks creating new accounts from Israeli IP's

#53

Post by covercash »

WesolyKubeczek wrote: post #41
covercash wrote: post #9

What’s more likely, an Amazon owned company blocking Israeli accounts on moral/ethical grounds or some backend technical reason? My guess is the latter…

Or one employee being an activist and sneaking in a config change.

If we’re getting specific, a botnet in the region creating accounts might trigger a precautionary lock down like this.

Re: Twitch blocks creating new accounts from Israeli IP's

#54

Post by [deleted] »

biimugan wrote: post #51
Sabinus wrote: post #14

[flagged]

For anyone that's confused, there was an event at TwitchCon where some streamers (including one Jewish person) created a tier list. The tier list ranked other streamers according to whether they should be given a "pass" to say the word 'habibi'. The categories included things like 'Arab', 'Arab-coded', and at the bottom 'Loves Sabra'. Sabra, in this case, is a well-known brand of (supposedly not good) hummus (I don't…

[deleted]

Re: Twitch blocks creating new accounts from Israeli IP's

#55

Post by dzhiurgis »

Hikikomori wrote: post #29
heyheyhouhou wrote: post #25

It is well known that Israel uses botnets and user-controlled fake accounts to steer public opinion in social media. Reddit, youtube, instagram and lots of media outlets are flooded with pro-israeli propaganda or massive downvoting to any critizism against Israel. Also here in hacker news...

Hey now, the ones on hackernews probably do it for free on their own time.

On company time

Re: Twitch blocks creating new accounts from Israeli IP's

#56

Post by ryandrake »

pityJuke wrote: post #22
dtquad wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worth pointing out that FnF and Sneako are actual far-right anti-semites and not just the generic left-wing pro-Palestine activists.

Indeed. There’s a whole ‘nother controversy on the platform (which the tweet poster is a part of), but that’s far less clear cut than those two.

I thought that "FreshAndFit" were more associated with The Manosphere and Andrew Tate-like topics[1] than they were with the far-right and Israel. I also recall reading somewhere that the name is an online redpill euphemism for underage girls, too, which if true, somehow manages to make it even more problematic than anti-semitism does.

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresh_and_Fit_Podcast

Re: Twitch blocks creating new accounts from Israeli IP's

#57

Post by invalidname »

kalkin wrote: post #50

The Twitter account posting this seems a bit unhinged, with the snitch tagging of everyone from th ADL to the ACLU and the weird speculation about a "purple haired" person. I'm not inclined to take their description of the scope of the block at face value; is there a better source? (Also, Twitch is within their rights to decide in which countries they offer their service, and there could be any number of reasons for…

FYI Purple haired person is the Israeli nickname for Netanyahu. He dyes his hair and it occasionally picks up a purple tint. It's silly and childish, there's plenty of horrible things to say about him other than his appearance.

It's not about Twitch having a right to block a country. It's stealth blocking which seems contradictory to their parent companies policy. There are a lot of complaints against Amazon in this regard e.g. an Amazon employee is a hostage in Gaza yet people aren't allowed to mention his name within Amazon. This is in stark contrast to nvidia which also has an employee hostage in Gaza.

Re: Twitch blocks creating new accounts from Israeli IP's

#59

Post by kalkin »

invalidname wrote: post #57
kalkin wrote: post #50

The Twitter account posting this seems a bit unhinged, with the snitch tagging of everyone from th ADL to the ACLU and the weird speculation about a "purple haired" person. I'm not inclined to take their description of the scope of the block at face value; is there a better source? (Also, Twitch is within their rights to decide in which countries they offer their service, and there could be any number of reasons for…

FYI Purple haired person is the Israeli nickname for Netanyahu. He dyes his hair and it occasionally picks up a purple tint. It's silly and childish, there's plenty of horrible things to say about him other than his appearance. It's not about Twitch having a right to block a country. It's stealth blocking which seems contradictory to their parent companies policy. There are a lot of complaints against Amazon in this…

In context the thing about a purple-haired person is about a hypothetical Twitch trust-and-safety employee, not about Netanyahu.

Re: Twitch blocks creating new accounts from Israeli IP's

#60

Post by [deleted] »

WesolyKubeczek wrote: post #33
heyheyhouhou wrote: post #25

It is well known that Israel uses botnets and user-controlled fake accounts to steer public opinion in social media. Reddit, youtube, instagram and lots of media outlets are flooded with pro-israeli propaganda or massive downvoting to any critizism against Israel. Also here in hacker news...

Here on HN I tend to see the opposite: lots of staunch anti-israelism, sometimes bordering on plain old antisemitism, along with these statements like yours. I have showdead and showflagged enabled, yet I don’t see the flood of propaganda you keep talking about.

[deleted]
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