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The world's most popular paid music streaming
service, with nearly 141 million users tuning into its
ad-supported platform in October, said the pause would extend to
Spotify original and exclusive podcasts as well.
The move, which was first reported by Ad Age, comes as campaigns
for the U.S. presidential election in November 2020 heat up.
Online platforms including Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc's
Google are under growing pressure to police misinformation on
their platforms and stop carrying political ads that contain
false or misleading claims. Twitter Inc banned political ads in
October and, last month, Google said it would stop giving
advertisers the ability to target election ads using data such
as public voter records and general political affiliations.
"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," a Spotify spokeswoman said in
a statement to Reuters.
"We will reassess this decision as we continue to evolve our
capabilities."
Spotify, which was only accepting political advertising in the
United States, did not answer a Reuters question on how much
revenue the company generates from political ads.
"Spotify wasn't a widely used online advertising platform for
campaigns before," said Eric Wilson, a Republican digital
strategist. "But as other online platforms restricted their
political ad inventory, advertisers were on the hunt for new
options."
The new policy will cover political groups such as candidates
for office, elected and appointed officials, political parties,
political action committees (PACs) and SuperPACS, as well as
content that advocates for or against those entities. Spotify
will also not sell ads that advocate for legislative and
judicial outcomes.
The move only applies to Spotify’s ad sales, not advertisements
embedded in third-party content, though those will still be
subject to Spotify’s broader content policies.
(Reporting by Ayanti Bera in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini
Ganguli and Steve Orlofsky)
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