Shubham Sawarkar
In response to Russia’s new media law, Spotify Technology SA announced on Friday that it will suspend its streaming service in the country. The audio streaming service shut down its Russian office indefinitely earlier this month, citing Moscow’s “unprovoked attack on Ukraine.”
Russia’s new legislation makes it illegal to report any event that could discredit the Russian military.
“Spotify has continued to believe that it’s critically important to try to keep our service operational in Russia to provide trusted, independent news and information from the region,” Spotify said in a statement. “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 the possibility of even our listeners at risk.”
According to one source close to the situation, the service will terminate in early April. Netflix, another streaming service, shut down in Russia earlier this month after stating that it had no plans to add state-run channels to its Russian service, despite a rule requiring it to do so.
