Google and Twitch were sanctioned by Italian media regulator AGCOM because, through their respective video portals, they advertised gambling, violating the ban pursuant to Article 9 of Legislative Decree no. 87 of 12 July 2018 converted into law 96 of 9 August 2018 so-called “Dignity Decree”.

The Mountain View house was fined 2.25 million euros, while Twitch was fined 900 thousand euros. What happened? Have Google and Twitch suddenly gone crazy? In reality, AGCOM’s action concerns the channels on YouTube and Twitch opened by users.

“Following numerous reports received by the Authority, two procedures were initiated which ascertained the presence of over 80 YouTube and Twitch channels containing more than 20,000 videos advertising slot machines, gambling, sports betting and scratch cards In both proceedings, the companies were held responsible as owners of the means of dissemination of the videos published by third parties and with which they had specific commercial partnership contracts”, explains the Authority.

Simply put, the channels in question had active video “monetization”, and it was this that led to the measure. Based on AGCOM’s intervention, the illicit contents were removed; furthermore, the platforms were ordered to remove and prevent the uploading of similar violative videos by those subjects.

AGCOM also announces that it has closed a similar proceeding against TikTok Technology Ltd., having detected the absence of a contractual relationship with the 30 content creators who uploaded the disputed contents.