The Spotify streaming service will stop broadcasting political ads next year due to the US presidential election. Spotify justified this yesterday with concerns about the dissemination of false information: the company is currently not able to check and validate the content of political advertisements. The sale of political advertising ads will therefore be suspended in early 2020.
The Swedish streaming service has many users in the USA. They often use the ad-financed free offer.
Focus on young voters possible
There is currently no information on how much income Spotify generates from political advertising. However, the industry media „Advertising Age“ reported that, among other things, the Republican Party of US President Donald Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders, who is applying for the presidential candidacy of the US Democrats, had placed ads on Spotify. The streaming service with 130 million users worldwide is seen as an opportunity to reach young voters.
Ahead of the US presidential election in November 2020, there is growing concern about disinformation campaigns and the spread of misinformation. Trump himself repeatedly spreads false or misleading information.
The big internet companies reacted differently. The short message service Twitter has largely banished political advertising. The online giant Google announced in November that it would not allow individualized voter advertising. Targeted political advertising should therefore only be possible on the basis of broader criteria such as age, gender or postcode.
Facebook, on the other hand, wants to continue to allow political advertisements. The network argues that users and journalists should check the truth of the advertisements.
