Spotify Services to Be Suspended in Russia

On Friday, Spotify announced that it will fully suspend all its services in Russia due to concerns over journalism coverage restrictive law, The Hill reported. The platform told The Hill that its streaming services will be halted by early April.

Spotify said in a statement: “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," the spokesperson said. "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."

Last week, Russian media voices announced that Meta-owned Facebook is blocked in all of Russia as a response to the blocking of RT, and Sputnik in all Europe amid the military operation in Russia.

Russia asked the social media platform of stopping the company’s fact-checking and labelling of the content regarding state-owned outlets like RT, and Sputnik.

Facebook regulator Meta’s vice president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, said that 26 “cases of discrimination against Russian media and information resources by Facebook” have been reported since October 2020.

He added: “Soon millions of ordinary Russians will find themselves cut off from reliable information, deprived of their everyday ways of connecting with family and friends and silenced from speaking out,” continuing: “We will continue to do everything we can to restore our services so they remain available to people to safely and securely express themselves and organize for action.”