Twitch and VPNs

Did you accidentally get an IP ban from your favorite Twitch streamer? Hey, it happens. So here’s how you can use a VPN service to bypass this unfair IP ban.

Starting with 2020, Twitch changed the way it banned users. The platform now shadowbans you using your IP address. Now, you won’t just be unable to interact with others in the chat, you won’t even be able to see the chat at all. And that goes for all your accounts that were registered on your IP address (so account hopping won’t get rid of the IP ban).

Sounds harsh, but we understand Twitch’s stance on this. They implemented this type of IP banning to help streamers get rid of toxic users that harass them or other people in the chat.

Unfortunately, this isn’t an error-free method. You can be banned on accident – like if the streamer mistakes your name for the toxic user’s name. Sure, they can remove the ban, but they have to remember to do it. And after a 8 or 9-hour long stream, that’s the last thing they’ll remember.

You can contact the streamer in the hopes that they’ll reply and lift the unfair ban, but their inbox is probably already flooded with tons of messages from fans. So it might take a long while until they get back to you.

VPNs: Excellent Tools Against Unfair Bans!

VPNs are excellent tools for bypassing unfair IP bans. They’re online services that hide your IP address. They don’t make it “disappear”, so to speak. But they prevent Twitch (and any other site you visit) from seeing it. VPNs do that by sending your traffic through a VPN server that sits between you and Twitch. The platform will think you’re connecting to it from the VPN, so it will only see the VPN’s IP address.

You can use a VPN server in any country you want – it can even be your country (which we actually recommend to get fast speeds). As long as it’s a new IP address, Twitch’s IP ban won’t affect you anymore. We can’t say for sure if your account will be free of the ban, but at least you’ll be able to make a new account that’s no longer blacklisted.

Besides hiding your IP, VPNs also encrypt your traffic. This is important because it means your data is protected from hackers, governments, and ISPs. And best of all – VPNs are very easy to use. You just download an app, connect to a server, and start using Twitch!

Other Reasons You Might Want to Use a Twitch VPN

VPNs are very versatile tools. Besides helping you bypass IP bans on Twitch and secure your data, here’s what else they can do:

• Protect you from MITM attacks. Cybercriminals won’t be able to see where your connection requests are going, so they won’t be able to successfully intercept and redirect your traffic to fake sites.
• VPNs have ad blockers that prevent ads from loading on web pages (that makes your web browser faster). VPN ad blockers can also block connections to malware-infected sites.
• Using a VPN for Twitch will let you avoid ISP throttling. It encrypts your traffic, so your ISP won’t know you’re using Twitch. Due to that, they won’t be able to slow down your Twitch speeds when you use too much data.
• By hiding your IP, VPNs help you bypass geo-blocks (to unblock content on Netflix, BBC iPlayer, and Hulu) and censorship in restrictive countries.

WARNING – Twitch Isn’t a Big Fan of VPNs!

You can use a VPN with Twitch to get around its IP bans, but we can’t guarantee Twitch won’t shadowban your account for using a VPN. There have been reports of VPN users receiving a shadowban which stopped their messages from showing in the chat.

We read Twitch’s Terms of Service, and we couldn’t find a specific mention of VPNs. But we did come across this part:

“attempt to circumvent any content filtering techniques we employ, or attempt to access any service or area of the Twitch Services that you are not authorized to access;”

Basically, that implies using a VPN is against Twitch’s rules. Since a VPN can be used to “circumvent any content filtering techniques” Twitch uses.

If you’re lucky, you won’t get a shadowban at all. And if you use a good VPN like ExpressVPN or NordVPN, you should easily avoid Twitch’s detection methods because those VPNs refresh their IPs very often (so they avoid detection).

But to be on safe side, here’s what we recommend: create a new Twitch account while connected to the VPN so that it’s registered through a new IP. After that, if it gets a shadowban for using a VPN, it won’t affect your main account (it’s still IP-banned, but at least it’s not shadowbanned for using VPNs).

How to Get Rid of a Twitch IP Ban without a VPN

It’s obvious – you need to get in touch with the streamer. But that’s easier said than done – we already said that emailing them isn’t the best option since they probably get hundreds of emails each day, so your message goes unnoticed.

Here’s what else you could do to get in touch with them, however:

• Use mobile data to create a new account, and try to message them or get their attention in the chat. On mobile data, you use a different IP address – one that Twitch didn’t blacklist.
• Many streamers have social media accounts – try to message them there (on top of emailing them – hey, it’s still worth giving it a shot). Maybe they’ll be more likely to reply.
• If the streamer has a dedicated subreddits or you know their Reddit username, try to contact them there to explain about the accidental IP ban.

Oh, and if you have screenshots of the unfair ban (like a screenshot of the chat which shows you weren’t at fault), make sure you include them in your messages.

The Bottom Line

Twitch’s IP bans might not be fair, but they are necessary. If you got one by accident, you can use a VPN to bypass it. Have you ever done this? If you did, please tell us about your experience in the comments.