Spotify Users Threaten to Quit Over Infowars Podcast
Turns out the music-streaming site also hosts ‘The Alex Jones Show’ and people are furious. Is Apple next?
Lucas Jackson/Reuters
Spotify is the latest media platform to come under pressure for distributing material from conspiracy-theory hub Infowars, with customers threatening to drop their subscriptions over a podcast Spotify hosts from Infowars chief Alex Jones.
Other platforms like YouTube have also faced questions about why they host videos from Jones, who has used his outlet to promote conspiracy theories about Pizzagate and the Sandy Hook school shooting. Spotify didn’t respond to a request for comment about allowing The Alex Jones Show on its service. Infowars podcasts are also available on other podcast services, including Apple’s iTunes.
Right Wing Watch writer Jared Holt pointed out Monday that Spotify distributed Jones’ podcasts, minutes after Jones had urged his followers to sign up to receive the podcast through Spotify because “big tech giants are currently censoring us harder than ever.”
Infowars is on Spotify.
— Jared Holt (@jaredlholt) July 30, 2018
It is incredibly difficult to get podcasts hosted on Spotify. pic.twitter.com/0ZBclLmXiw
Holt’s tweet ignited a round of criticism from Spotify users who threatened to drop their subscriptions if Spotify continued. Sleeping Giants, an online campaign that previously aimed to get companies to drop ads from Breitbart, slammed Spotify over distributing the podcast.
Sorry, are you calling harassment of Sandy Hook parents and threatening the life of a government employee “political speech”?
— Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) July 30, 2018
If @Spotify is hosting this material, they are absolutely responsible for the spread and amplification of these messages.
Try again. https://t.co/DTJIM2da0z
Some media platforms hosting Infowars videos have already made some attempts to rein in Jones. On Friday, Facebook suspended Jones’ account on the site—although it didn’t touch other related pages for Jones and Infowars. YouTube also gave Jones a “strike” on his account last week, pushing him closer to a potential ban.
But the platforms have still been accused of going too softly on Jones, who has promoted a variety of conspiracy theories for years. The single YouTube strike, for example, encompassed four videos—a decision that meant Jones wouldn’t receive the three strikes that would kick him off the platform for good.
Still, the social-media punishments have prompted an outcry on the right, with Sen. Ted Cruz tweeting “Who the hell made Facebook the arbiter of political speech?”
Am no fan of Jones — among other things he has a habit of repeatedly slandering my Dad by falsely and absurdly accusing him of killing JFK — but who the hell made Facebook the arbiter of political speech? Free speech includes views you disagree with. #1A https://t.co/RC5v4SHaiI
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 28, 2018
Spotify has already ventured into content moderation before, with little success. In May, Spotify announced a new “hateful content” policy that would prevent the service from promoting songs from singer R. Kelly, among others. But two weeks later, Spotify rolled back the policy.
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