Spotify Playlists - Hate Speech and Racial Slurs Appear

Apparently, Spotify users can create playlist titles using hate speech and racial slurs.

Does Spotify Allow Hate Speech and Racial Slurs as Playlist Titles?

According to a report by Digital Music News, published on Wednesday (July 12), Spotify users are allegedly titling their playlists with hate speech and racial slurs. Wasted Potency, an up-and-coming rapper, brought the issue to the attention of the music news website after being frustrated with not receiving a response from Spotify.

The indie rapper alleges that he spotted users having playlists with highly offensive titles like "Total N****r Death, Vol. 14, which purportedly appears under the "Discovered On" header on Spotify’s homepage.

"The playlist has been reported by many people countless times and it returns," Wasted Potency told DMN. "[The] escalation team hasn’t gotten back to me [and] it's been three months. I got one message and that's it. If I was a label artist I'm sure they would have this taken care of in two seconds."

Wasted Potency reportedly contacted Spotify Artist support on June 4 but has not received a response yet. However, Spotify informed him that the matter is currently under investigation and may take some time to resolve. An email allegedly stated, "The case is already being looked into. Please note that the inquiry may take some time. Rest assured that the team responsible for this report is already aware of the situation."

Digital Music News reports that users can create racially hateful playlists through a community playlist without having to bypass any moderation measures. This makes abusive playlisting a widespread practice and appears under a Spotify Artist page. Of course, using such speech is against Spotify's terms of service and the accounts will likely be deplatformed.

XXL has reached out to Spotify for comment.

Joe Rogan's Racial Slur Controversy on Spotify

Spotify has been accused of allowing racial slurs to appear on their platform.

In February of 2022, an old video surfaced online featuring Joe Rogan spewing the N-word multiple times on his popular podcast—years before he signed a $100 million deal with Spotify. It prompted outrage from several music artists, including India.Arie, who removed her music from the streaming service in protest. Rapper Fat Joe called Rogan a "piece of s**t" for using the N-word on his program.

Following the backlash Rogan issued a statement apologizing for his past use of the racial epithet. Also, in response to the controversy, Spotify removed 70 podcast episodes from their platform although they didn’t confirm whether it was because the N-word was used.