Spotify to Ban Political Advertising
Spotify Technology SA will stop accepting U.S. political advertising in early 2020, following Twitter’s lead.
The move will apply to Spotify’s ad-supported service, as well as its original and exclusive podcasts, the company said on Friday. The music-streaming service never sold political ads in other countries, so the change only affects the U.S.
Spotify is describing the move as a “pause” and may resume the ads in the future.
“At this point in time, we do not yet have the necessary level of robustness in our processes, systems and tools to responsibly validate and review this content,” the company said in a statement. “We will reassess this decision as we continue to evolve our capabilities.”
Twitter banned the ads in November, though it said some “caused-based” ads for some economic, environmental or social issues would be acceptable. Google also has restricted certain types of targeting for campaign ads.
Facebook has continued to allow political advertising. The commercials aren’t fact-checked.