The streaming platform is also restricting the discoverability of Kremlin-backed content.
In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Spotify has shut down its Moscow operations indefinitely, according to Variety. Last month, the streaming platform created a representative office in Moscow, after the passage of a new Russian law requiring foreign internet businesses with a user base of over 500,000 to establish a presence in the country by 2022. However, because the rule is so new, most of the firms affected (including Meta, Twitter, and Telegram) have yet to comply. Spotify, TikTok, and Apple have all opened offices in Russia to date.
Spotify will continue to be available in Russia. “We believe it is crucial to maintain our service operational in Russia to enable for global information flow,” the company said.
- Joe Rogan’s deal with Spotify is said to be worth at least $200 million.
- The influence of TikTok on minors is being investigated by state attorneys general.
Spotify will also yank RT and Sputnik News off its platform, both Kremlin-funded news outlets with a massive global audience. Critics say both outlets function as propaganda tools for the Russian government and their foreign policy interests. Canada and the EU have both banned Russian state programming from their airwaves in recent days, and both outlets are under investigation in the UK.
But it’s still pretty easy to view such Kremlin-backed outlets in the US. The National Association of Broadcasters has called for US broadcasters to stop airing RT, RT America and Sputnik News; so far only DirectTV and Roku has complied. Both Apple and Google have also removed apps from these outlets from their app stores.
But most other platforms, including Meta, TikTok and YouTube, are merely demoting or downranking Russian state-backed channels in the United States, though they are banning them outright in the European Union. Meta has stopped recommending RT and Sputnik News channels in the feeds of Facebook Main and Instagram, but users can directly go to the pages themselves.
