Spotify is suspending its services in Russia as the country’s invasion of Ukraine continues into its second month. Ukraine continues into its second month. In a statement, the company appears to reference Russia’s news about the military with up to 15 years in prison as the primary reason for why it is shutting down in the country. Spotify has continued to believe that it is critically important to try and keep our service operational in Russia to provide trusted independent news and information in the region. According to a Spotify spoke person who asked not to be named because of the situation in Russia. Unfortunately, recently enacted legislation further restricting access to information eliminating free expression, and criminalizing certain types of news puts the safety of Spotify employees and possibly even our listeners at risk. After carefully considering our options and the current circumstance we have come to the difficult decision to fully suspend our services in Russian. The company expects services to be fully suspended by early April the spoke person.
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Spotify removed content from the kremlin backed outlets RT and sputnik and closed its office in Russia earlier in march, but this new step goes further by shutting down the streaming services in the country. The company also said in March that its paid subscription services would no longer be available in Russia.
