Spotify accused of lax response to white supremacist acts on streaming platform

nme.com:

Spotify has been accused of a lax response to remove white supremacist content from the streaming platform.According to a report by the Anti-Defamation League, a total of 40 white supremacist acts were being hosted on Spotify, violating the platform’s rules against “dangerous content”.The report found that musical sub-genres embraced by these artists included Fashwave – electronic music that espouses white supremacist ideology, Rock Against Communism, a sub-genre of punk that promotes racism and antisemitism and National Socialist Black Metal (NBSM), a sub-genre of metal that espouses fascism and white supremacy.The ADL noted that several of these acts, many of which it says shared links to “other extremist spaces” directly in their profiles, are “verified” artists on Spotify, giving them licence to use the platform’s built-in tools to help surface their music on playlists.The report claimed that a keyword search on Spotify for the term Fashwave turned up in a total of 72 playlists created by the platform’s users, with titles such as 14/88 (a white supremacist code) and Right Wing Death Squad.It also highlighed instances of Spotify-generated algorithmic playlists curated for individual users that incorporate white supremacist content.

Despite contravening the anti-extremist guidelines in Spotify’s content policy, such content has flourished on the platform, according to the report.A previous report in February, found that Spotify’s platform rules were lacking and “loosely defined,” leading Spotify to update those rules to add “a much more explicit anti-extremism policy.”But the ADL said in its new report that those rules “do not appear to be strictly enforced” and “Spotify still has considerable work to do in.