Russian media regulators say Twitch has deleted pirated soccer streams, removing risk it will be blocked

The streaming service Twitch has deleted copies of English Premiere League matches that had previously drawn a copyright challenge from Rambler.

TASS reported on the deletion. Vadim Ampelonsky, the press secretary for the censorship and media regulation agency Roskomnadzor, told the wire service that the move removes the risk that Twitch will be blocked on Russian territory.

A similar batch of content has also been removed from the Match TV television channel’s website.

Match TV had previously owned exclusive rights to streaming Premiere League matches, but those rights were acquired by Rambler in the summer of 2019. Rambler subsequently sued Twitch for 180 billion rubles ($2.88 billion) and asked for the service to be blocked, to which Twitch responded that its users, not the company itself, are responsible for the content published on the site.