Spotify have announced that it will be pausing all political ad sales in the US ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
A spokesperson for the streaming giant has said the reason for the decision is because the advertisements are too hard to “validate and review.”
“At this point in time, we do not yet have the necessary level of robustness in our process, systems and tools to responsibly validate and review this content,” Spotify said in a statement to Ad Age. “We will reassess this decision as we continue to evolve our capabilities.”
The move impacts its ad-supported tier – which boosts 141 million users – as well as the streaming giant’s original and exclusive podcasts, some of which include The Joe Budden Podcast and Amy Schumer Presents.
Previously, the Bernie Sanders campaign and the RNC had both made sizable commitments to Spotify, and both had been expected to ramp up spending ahead of the first primary votes.
Spotify will switch to the new policy in early 2020. The move only applies to the US, as the company doesn’t run political ads in other countries.
Released on December 5, the feature shares listeners most played songs and artists of the year and now also includes a breakdown of users most listened to genres. As well as this, the feature allows listeners to see a round up of the locations of the music they listen to and how long they spent listening in total.
