Amazon are looking to shut down KICK.COM, a pro-gambling Twitch clone, and suing the creators for using stolen source code.
KICK.COM was founded in response to an amendment to Twitch’s content policy that restricts streamers from using certain gambling, online casino, and slot sites. The new streaming platform, though, appears too familiar. According to sources, KICK.COM utilises leaked Twitch source code, and Amazon may take legal action to shut down the site.
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You don’t need to be a sleuth to see that [kick dot com] is just another Twitch knockoff. The user interface is virtually indistinguishable from Amazon’s streaming service. Even the back-end interface appears to be lifted straight from Twitch’s streaming dashboard.
However, unlike Twitch and YouTube, KICK.COM allows you to stream and promote pro-gambling websites like online slots and cashback casinos.
“Whether you may stream gambling games online (eg: Online Poker, Online Blackjack) depends on the laws and regulations of the country you are located,” the platform’s community guidelines state.
In addition to content that is restricted on other major streaming services like Twitch and YouTube, KICK.COM allows users to stream video adult games that contain nudity.
In October 2021, an anonymous 4chan user claimed to have stolen 125GB of data from 6,000 internal Twitch Git repositories. The imageboard poster made fun of Amazon’s acquisition of Twitch by stating, “Jeff Bezos paid $970 million for this, we’re giving it away for FREE.”
Multiple Twitch products, top-secret projects, subsidiaries, internal tools, and staff repositories were compromised. Databases containing sensitive information, such as the streamers’ profits, were also stolen.
While most of the focus has been on the disclosed streamers’ revenues, our results suggest a much more significant problem that spans far beyond just this one breach, since we spent some time examining the 6000 Git repositories for secrets and sensitive data.
Twitch later acknowledged and addressed the leak in a tweet: “We can confirm a breach has taken place. Our teams are working with urgency to understand the extent of this. We will update the community as soon as additional information is available. Thank you for bearing with us.”
Several prominent Twitch streamers have complained to Amazon, urging that the company take legal action against KICK.COM, claiming that the company is using stolen and leaked source code.
What is, and who owns, KICK.COM?
KICK promotes itself as a creator-friendly platform with policies that will entice even the smallest streamer to sign up. Many have expressed interest in giving it a try while it’s still in beta.
The platforms most enticing offer is there revenue share policy. KICK’s 95% subscriber income split promises to be more generous than either Twitch’s 50/50 or YouTube’s 70% subscriber revenue split. This is in addition to the standard 50% share on the platform’s Kicks contribution service. Instead of waiting a month to get paid, creators can obtain their money the very same day.
Kick has not yet published any impact statements on their website. It didn’t gain traction until Tyler ‘Trainwreck or TrainwrecksTV’ Niknam told his 2 million Twitch followers on December 3 that he was switching to Kick.
Slots is the most popular category on KICK.COM, with roughly 30,000 live viewers at any given time. TrainwrecksTV, who has publicly backed the site and is believed to possess stakes in the company, is the largest gambling broadcaster on the website. TrainwrecksTV has approximately 26,000 followers on the pro-gambling streaming platform, which is a drop in the bucket compared to his two million Twitch followers.
KICK.COM’s ownership is currently unknown, however crypto gambling platform Stake.com appears to be supporting the initiative.