Spotify Launches Safety Advisory Council to Address Content Concerns
so spotify finally did something about the whole content moderation situation and honestly i have mixed feelings about it. they just announced a Safety Advisory Council which is basically a panel of outside experts who will advise the company on policies around harmful content. its the first of its kind at any major audio platform according to spotify themselves
the timing here is… interesting. this comes months after the whole joe rogan covid misinformation controversy that saw neil young and other artists pull their music from the platform. Variety reported on how the council formation follows the Rogan controversy though spotify insists this wasnt created in response to “any particular creator or situation”
Spotify announced the council with 18 founding members including academics, civil rights organizations, and experts on issues like hate speech, disinformation, and online abuse. the group includes folks from the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Dangerous Speech Project, and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative among others
heres the thing though – the council is purely advisory. they dont make enforcement decisions about specific content or creators. so if youre thinking this means rogan is gonna get kicked off the platform or something… nah thats not how this works. TechCrunch noted this is different from Facebooks Oversight Board which can rule on specific cases
as spotify expands into podcasts, audiobooks, and potentially live audio, they need frameworks for handling content that goes beyond just music. and its better to have outside experts weighing in than just having random employees make decisions about what constitutes harmful content. the podcast industry is booming and platforms are scrambling to figure out content moderation
whether this actually changes anything remains to be seen. advisory councils can be window dressing or they can be genuinely influential. i guess well find out which one this turns out to be
