#Spotify’s refusal to moderate content will soon become a nightmare
“#Spotify’s refusal to moderate content will soon become a nightmare”
Spotify has mostly diverted the questions about the podcasts’ content — until now.
In an interview with Axios, CEO Daniel Ek, said that the company exercises no editorial control over its creators:
We have a lot of really well-paid rappers on Spotify too, that make tens of millions of dollars, if not more, each year from Spotify. And we don’t dictate what they’re putting in their songs, either.
It’s great that Spotify allows creators to express themselves freely, but it will have to face the music eventually. Platforms can’t simply ignore moderating the content they host. In fact, with cases like Alex Jones, it may have to issue an outright ban. The problem though, is wider than this: Spotify simply doesn’t currently have the capacity to scale its moderation efforts.
Effectively, moderating what people hear is way tougher than it sounds — no pun intended.
This is something The Verge’s Ashley Carmen has covered in great detail before. The task gets even more daunting when you realize that, according to podcast marketing company Chartable, more than 17,000 new shows were launched every week in 2020.
How do you moderate this much content? Well, you’d need a huge human workforce alongside some advanced and scaled AI, especially if you’re going to do this quickly. To say it’s a mammoth task is an understatement.
For Spotify, this question won’t be limited to music and podcasts. Last month, it launched its own Clubhouse rival called Greenroom for live audio conversations. While it has moderation and reporting tools, real-time audio platforms have struggled with having any kind of control over these chats.
The fact of the matter is this: Spotify can’t ignore that it’s a platform forever. It has a responsibility to vet what it hosts and the sooner it understands and accepts this, the less painful it’ll be when it finally takes action.
Did you know we have a newsletter all about consumer tech? It’s called Plugged In – and you can subscribe to it right here.
If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on Google News too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.
For forums sites go to Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com
If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our Technology category.
