Spotify has a moderation problem on its hands at the moment. Searching for popular artists on the music streaming platform instead sometimes returns explicit videos and audio posted by unmoderated accounts. The situation recently came to light when users started reporting the problem on social media and The Verge reached out to Spotify for comment.This isn’t the first time something like this has happened to Spotify. However, previous instances usually consisted of explicit audio clips. Accounts posting those clips have apparently grown more brazen in recent months and have started posting videos instead. The ‘Video’ tab in particular has multiple examples of explicit content being uploaded to the platform.
A Spotify representative has said that the examples recently brought to light have been removed. How these videos made it past the content moderation systems in the first place is a mystery. I’d have thought these systems would be a lot more effective now with AI powering them but apparently that might not be the case.
Image credit — PhoneArena
YouTube in particular has a big problem when it comes to this. Advertising containing explicit content runs free on the site while someone humming a song for five seconds is enough to get their video a copyright strike. Their priorities just aren’t where they should be.
The examples posted by users online may have been taken down but I’d wager that many more are soon to follow. I don’t know what these accounts get from doing this — aside from views perhaps — but they’re unlikely to stop anytime soon.
