Spotify is pulling out of Russia, citing a new law that threatens jail for spreading “fake news” about the country’s armed forces.
The music-streaming company said safety concerns around staff and “possibly even our listeners” pushed it to shut down its free service entirely.
Spotify closed its office in Russia in early March.
But it said it wanted to keep its service operational to deliver “independent news” to the country.
“Spotify continues to believe it is vitally 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, recent legislation that further restricts access to information, stifles free speech and criminalizes certain types of news, is putting the safety of Spotify employees and potentially even our listeners at risk.”
- More and more companies are withdrawing from Russia
- BBC reporters resume English-language broadcasts from Russia
New rules on what media companies can broadcast or publish online mean publishing material deemed “fake news” about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could result in lengthy prison terms.
Following the passage of the law, media outlets earlier this month announced plans to suspend coverage from the country, including Bloomberg, the New York Times and CNN.
TikTok has also suspended live streaming and new content from its platform following its launch.
The BBC has stopped reporting in Russia but has since resumed. Access to BBC websites has been restricted in Russia and the Kremlin took BBC World News off the air earlier this month.
Spotify, launched in Russia in 2020, is best known as a music streaming platform. But it’s aggressively embraced podcasting as part of its business model, with its library spanning many news and current affairs shows.
Since the war in Ukraine, the company has not been able to sell its premium subscriptions in the country due to restrictions imposed by payment providers as part of international sanctions.
This latest move adds it to a list of hundreds of global companies that have closed or scaled back operations in the country, including BP, McDonald’s and Netflix.
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