Spotify Cancels Political Ads Before 2020 Election

Spotify has decided to suspend all political ad sales before next year’s election.

“Beginning in early 2020, Spotify will pause the selling of political advertising,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “This will include political advertising content in our ad-supported tier and in Spotify original and exclusive podcasts. At this point in time, we do not yet have the necessary level of robustness in our processes, systems and tools to responsibly validate and review this content. We will reassess this decision as we continue to evolve our capabilities.” 

The political ad ban will only impact the U.S. because the streaming giant doesn’t run such them in other countries. Bernie Sanders and the Republican National Committee have previously advertised on Spotify.

One source told Ad Age that the move will have a relatively small impact on revenue, as the majority of its ad sales come from movie or TV show promos. Political ads included in third-party content, podcasts that Spotify itself doesn’t produce, will not be impacted by the ban.

Political advertisements are under more scrutiny in the lead up to the election, with Facebook notably taking a heavily criticized hands-off approach. The social media company has gotten in trouble for allowing political ads that include misleading or even false claims, although it’s banned ads that urged people not to vote.

In October, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said his company will no longer sell political ads. Google, meanwhile, recently announced it would stop “microtargeting” ads by political affiliation or voting records.