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Since July 2021, Russian legislation signed by
President Vladimir Putin has obliged foreign social media
companies with more than 500,000 daily users to open local
offices or be subject to restrictions as severe as outright
bans.
Ahead of the March deadline, only a few companies, including
Spotify, had complied.
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine last week, which Moscow calls
a “special operation,” Western governments have urged companies
to push back on Putin in any way possible.
"Our first priority over the past week has been the safety of
our employees and to ensure that Spotify continues to serve as
an important source of global and regional news at a time when
access to information is more important than ever," Spotify said
in a statement.
Spotify said it has reviewed thousands of pieces of content
since the start of the war, and restricted the discoverability
of shows owned and operated by Russian state-affiliated media.
Earlier this week, it also removed all content from state media
RT and Sputnik from Spotify in the European Union, the United
States and other markets around the world, except for Russia,
following similar steps by Meta Platforms Inc's Facebook and
Twitter.
Sputnik on Wednesday said by email that "any restrictions on
members of the press are blatant censorship and the dirtiest
example of freedom of speech violations."
RT said earlier this week that tech companies removing it had
failed to cite any issues with its coverage.
Spotify said it would match employee donations, two-to-one, to
support local humanitarian efforts.
(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski; Editing by Leslie Adler,
Marguerita Choy and Kim Coghill)
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