Spotify Is Backtracking On Their "Hate Content" Policy

Mohammed Elshamy/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Spotify Is Stepping Back On Their Policy Toward “Hate Content”

After it stopped promoting R. Kelly’s music as part of a controversial new artist conduct policy, Spotify is already reversing their recent steps.

The streaming service is now said to be “moving away” from its “hate content” and “harmful conduct” policy, which was initially meant to provide guidelines for the company to remove an artist from its curated playlists and recommendation algorithms–if their behavior is deemed unacceptable.

An announcement shared on Friday to the Spotify website reads: “Spotify recently shared a new policy around hate content and conduct. And while we believe our intentions were good, the language was too vague, we created confusion and concern, and didn’t spend enough time getting input from our own team and key partners before sharing new guidelines.”

They continued on to say, “Across all genres, our role is not to regulate artists…Therefore, we are moving away from implementing a policy around artist conduct.”

If you’ll recall, Spotify announced last month that it would not actively promote Kelly’s music after deeming he was in violation of the conduct policy due to his sexual misconduct allegations. They quickly took the same measures with XXXTentacion, who has faced a series of legal issues himself, including accusations of domestic violence.

Though some people condoned the choice, Spotify’s move was condemned by reps for both artists, and it sparked a wider conversation about whether the policy could be considered censorship or not.

Do you agree with their decision to take a step back on not promoting artists like R. Kelly and XXXTentacion?