Live video feeds are now extremely popular in several platforms and for various applications. For example, gaming addicts are always alert of their favorite developers’ channels to wait for news, new titles, and other information or details.
One of the most influential and widespread ways to conduct a live streaming signal is via a Twitch account. It is a video and music streaming center known for broadcasting numerous live events, or via video-on-demand, through the Internet.
While connected to Twitch, you are able to enjoy a good, old-fashioned video game tournament broadcast, a news conference about a subject that may interest you, or the daily activities of your preferred influencer.
Twitch is owned and administrated by Amazon, and has been up and running since 2011. It allows people to stream video gaming conferences, e-sports tournaments, music broadcasts, creative material, and “in real life” content. The service reached the 100 million monthly viewer threshold in 2015.
Unblocking Twitch.tv in China: is it possible?
While Twitch is available in most countries, there are some notorious exceptions to the rule. China, known for its censorship practices made possible thanks to the conglomerate of measures, technologies, and regulations known as the Great Firewall of China.
As unbelievable as it may sound, sites such as Google and all of its products (including Youtube,) Twitch.tv, Facebook, Mobile Wikipedia, Twitter, Blogspot, Yahoo! Japan, Instagram, FC2, GitHub, Pinterest, DailyMotion, Rakuten, The Pirate Bay, Amazon Japan, The New York Times, DropBox, Vimeo, SoundCloud, Scribd, The Independent, Yomiuri, Stream.tv, and dozens more are restricted in China.
The Chinese authorities prefer to control the content that its people access, presumably to avoid any contact with the exterior. International news websites or even social media networks are blocked. However, some things can be done to circumvent the annoying and unfair Great Firewall of China.
VPN technology works like magic
You could use a Smart DNS service or a proxy server. However, there is no better way to protect your online assets and, at the same time, earning the ability to unblock Twitch in China than using a Virtual Private Network, or VPN.
VPNs are useful online tools that provide data encryption and rerouting services. In an average, standard and non-encrypted connection, the information you share when you connect to the World Wide Web (visited pages, session time, login cookies, location, and more) is managed by your Internet Service Provider and its servers.
However, these agents are the ones leaking your location information to Chinese authorities, since they can easily recognize it via your IP address. With a VPN connection, that data is encrypted, so no external agent can decipher it, and rerouted to a server maintained by your VPN company.
VPN brands use protocols – such as OpenVPN, L2TP/IPSec, SSTP, PPTP, IKEv2, or brand-owned ones such as VyprVPN’s Chameleon – to build a virtual tunnel and establish a communication channel in which the servers of your Internet Service Provider are excluded. The scenario helps you avoid all kinds of threats or unwanted situations, such as China’s content filtering, censorship, surveillance, or even hacker activity, online advertising, crypto mining, and others.
VPNs provide their customers with the ability to browse the web anonymously, and that’s why they are usually sold as security and privacy resources. However, their most common application is to unblock content, such as Twitch, in China or any other nation with restrictions.
The process works like this: all sites around the world can see where their visitors are connecting from by looking at their IP address, which functions as each device’s online identity. Thanks to the use of a VPN service, a customer will be able to hide their current area and acquire another IP number from a different nation for temporary use.
The content from the nation you connect will become available for you once you have connected to that server/country. For example, to unblock Twitch in China, you will have to acquire another IP number from a different nation because the service blocks connection requests that come with a Chinese IP.
However, you can “trick” the system into thinking you are anywhere outside of China, when you are actually inside the country, and all thanks to VPN technology’s location spoofing prowess.
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| Best VPN |  | $5 a month (code "best10VPN") | 9.9 |  |
| Good VPN |  | $9 a month | 8.9 | |
| Decent VPN |  | $6.95 a month | 8.8 | |
TorGuard and its unblocking prowess
With over 3,000 servers in 55 nations around the world, TorGuard is arguably the most efficient VPN option to unblock Twitch in China and watching a live stream of your preferred video game tournament, or that announcement you have been waiting.
To stream content online, you need speed and reliability, and TorGuard can provide both while also protecting your content and identity with AES 256-bit encryption and a strict no logging policy. It also has security features such as DNS leak protection and a kill switch, in case you need them. The monthly service costs $10, but it is worth it if you consider it has multiple protocols available, it is compatible with routers and the vast majority of devices and platforms, and it has an excellent live chat service and overall customer service.
How to unblock Twitch in China
- Select a VPN provider with a broad server network, robust encryption, and satisfactory speeds for streaming content online
- Go to that VPN’s website
- Sign up for the VPN plan of your liking. You will need to provide a payment method and some personal information
- Create a username and a password
- Download and install the VPN app in your device
- Login to your VPN account
- Connect to a VPN server that is not located in China
- Done! You will now be able to unblock Twitch in China
In conclusion, Twitch is a useful resource to have around. You can enjoy live video streaming and enjoy music as well, among other things. However, China has managed to block the service in the country and to unblock Twitch in the nation; you will need to hire a VPN provider.
