Spotify will ‘pause’ political ads in early 2020

Verge ^ | 12-27-2019 | Kim Lyons

[tcrlaf]

As first reported by AdAge, Spotify said Friday it will “pause” political advertising early in 2020 on its ad-supported tier and its original and exclusive podcasts, saying it doesn’t have the resources to properly vet such ads.

“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,” the company said in a statement to The Verge. “We will reassess this decision as we continue to evolve our capabilities.”

Spotify does not offer ads on its platform outside the US. The company would not tell AdAge how much revenue its political ads generate, but Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and the RNC have run ads on Spotify in the past.

Spotify joins other tech companies grappling with how to handle political advertising in the run-up to the 2020 election. In November, Twitter put into effect its political advertising ban, which forbids paid content referring to candidates, political parties, legislation, regulation, or ballot measures. Ads from political action committees and 501(c)(4) organizations also are prohibited on Twitter, but the platform allows “cause-based advertising” in some circumstances.

[tcrlaf]

Google’s restrictions on political advertising will go into effect worldwide on January 6th. Its rules limit advertisers from targeting people based on public voter records or political affiliation, but Google will still allow geo-targeted political ads, and political ads targeted to demographics like age and gender. Google’s new rules are likely to have a significant impact on political ads; since May 31st, 2018, the company has run more than $155 million in political ads in the US (the leading spender as of this writing is former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s 2020 campaign).

[DoughtyOne]

These companies betray their duty to allow open discussion regarding elections.

What really bothers them, is the disgusting record the demoⁿcRats have to run on.

Heck, what choice do they have other than to ban their records?

Not a one of them seems to have a record clean enough to be proud of.

[Uncle Miltie]

Trump has the most cash for ads.

So leftist management refuses ads.

Shareholders should sue.

[TexasGurl24]

Bloomberg probably has the most cash. Regardless, the corporate media is doing everything in their power to elect a Democrat.

[lodi90]

Seems like grounds here for the GOP to refusal donations from Big Tech and hang up on their lobbyists. That won’t be happening, of course, because the GOP is just fine with this censorship as long as Trump 2020 is the target.

[lodi90]

Trump has the most cash for ads.

So leftist management refuses ads.

Shareholders should sue.

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Correct. And the DNC has editorial control of Fake News. Pretty blatant attack on Trump 2002 here, IMO.

[Bob434]

[[Spotify will ‘pause’ political ads in early 2020]]

Oh shucks, because spotify is the one place i go to to inform me of who i should vote for /s

[LS]

Trump has a dozen ways to make end runs around this-—which less funded candidates do not have.