Tag: content moderation

Spotify Continues to Ramp Up Platform Safety Efforts with Acquisition of Kinzen

October 5, 2022

Spotify and Kinzen logos

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Today, Spotify is excited to share that we have acquired Dublin, Ireland-based Kinzen, a global leader in protecting online communities from harmful content. Kinzen’s advanced technology and deep expertise will help us more effectively deliver a safe, enjoyable experience on our platform around the world. 

Spotify’s current partnership with Kinzen, which began in 2020, has been critical to enhancing our approach to platform safety. The company’s unique technology is particularly suited for podcasting and audio formats, making its value to Spotify clear and unmatched. The technology the Kinzen team brings to Spotify combines machine learning and human expertise—backed by analysis from leading local academics and journalists—to analyze potential harmful content and hate speech in multiple languages and countries. 

“We’ve long had an impactful and collaborative partnership with Kinzen and its exceptional team. Now, working together as one, we’ll be able to even further improve our ability to detect and address harmful content, and importantly, in a way that better considers local context,” said Dustee Jenkins, Spotify’s Global Head of Public Affairs. “This investment expands Spotify’s approach to platform safety, and underscores how seriously we take our commitment to creating a safe and enjoyable experience for creators and users.”

Given the complexity of analyzing audio content in hundreds of languages and dialects, and the challenges in effectively evaluating the nuance and intent of that content, the acquisition of Kinzen will help Spotify better understand the abuse landscape and identify emerging threats on the platform.

“The combination of tools and expert insights is Kinzen’s unique strength that we see as essential to identifying emerging abuse trends in markets and moderating potentially dangerous content at scale,” said Sarah Hoyle, Spotify’s Head of Trust and Safety. “This expansion of our team, combined with the launch of our Safety Advisory Council, demonstrates the proactive approach we’re taking in this important space.”

Spotify’s Statement in Response to the War in Ukraine

March 2, 2022

We are deeply shocked and saddened by the unprovoked attack on Ukraine. 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.

In response to the crisis, we have taken several steps. We have closed our office in Russia indefinitely and we are providing individual support to our people in the region as well as our global community of Ukrainian employees.

Our team has reviewed thousands of pieces of content since the start of the war, and has restricted the discoverability of shows owned and operated by Russian state-affiliated media. Earlier this week, we also took the additional step of removing all RT and Sputnik content from Spotify in the EU and other markets. Today, we launched a global guide on the Spotify platform to provide our users around the world with trusted news. We think it’s critically important to try to keep our service operational in Russia to allow for the global flow of information.

Our employees around the world are committed to helping people affected by the war in Ukraine and we are matching their donations two to one to support local humanitarian efforts. We are exploring additional steps that we can take and will continue to do what is in the best interest of our employees and our listeners.

*Update as of March 4, 2022: As devastating events continue to unfold in Ukraine, the global community of artists and listeners have been looking for ways to help those affected by war. So, we are mobilizing our Artist Fundraising Pick feature in Spotify for Artists to be used to help raise funds for the effort. This feature allows our community to seamlessly contribute by allowing artists to select a fundraising destination to place at the top of their Spotify profile to then collect donations from listeners. Artists will also have the ability to change their artist image on their Spotify profile to support Ukraine. Read more about this feature on Spotify for Artists. 

*Update as of March 25, 2022: Spotify has continued to believe that it’s critically important to try and keep our service operational in Russia to provide trusted, independent news and information in the region. Unfortunately, recently enacted legislation further restricting access to information, eliminating free expression, and criminalizing certain types of news puts the safety of Spotify’s employees and possibly even our listeners at risk. After carefully considering our options and the current circumstances, we have come to the difficult decision to fully suspend our service in Russia.

*Update as of April 7, 2022: Spotify will fully suspend our service in Russia on April 11th.