Spotify’s filter fails to block explicit lyric content in top hits

Posted on 2 February 2024
By Sam Wilson
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Spotify, one of the leading music streaming platforms, has come under fire for the failure of its explicit content filter. It has been reported to have failed on dozens of big hits across the platform.

The filter seems to have been ineffective in blocking offensive material, leading to concerns about the platform’s ability to protect its users, particularly its young listeners.

Many big hits, including songs by artists like Eminem, Kanye West, and Jay-Z, have slipped through the filter and remained accessible to users of all ages, raising questions about Spotify’s commitment to providing a safe listening experience.

This may have serious consequences, as younger listeners could be exposed to explicit and potentially harmful material. While Spotify offers parental control settings, it’s clear that they are not always foolproof.

Currently, more than a third of Spotify’s UK top 50 chart contains explicit lyrics; out of those, half of them still display the explicit lyrics while the clean edit is being played.

It has been found that on desktops and laptops, people can still read the explicit lyrics even when a song has been blocked by the user, just by clicking on the track or artist’s name.

Spotify introduced the content filter after pressure was applied by parents in 2018, making them put an ‘E’ next to any songs containing offensive language.

James Roach, a music producer who goes by the name Midlo and has written for parenting website Music Football Fatherhood said it’s a worrying issue.

He said: “Children do want to imitate these artists and sing the songs, but it’s not always 100% clear what is being said.

“So they go online, or you go to these platforms to see what the actual words are. And I think that makes it even worse because you’re looking for it. You’re reading every word.”

One Spotify customer, Tim, said in a complaint to the website: “When I play a Spotify playlist, it still plays all the explicit content songs that are marked with the E symbol.”

“My setting is not to play explicit content. I have young children in the house, and Spotify is playing some really explicit lyrics for them. This is unacceptable; the filter used to be terrible. Then it seemed to work quite well for a few months. And now it is terrible again.”

This complaint was left over 4 years ago on the Spotify website, only to be acknowledged with the suggestion to uninstall the app and redownload it.

30 parents also left replies under his comment, stating they had the same issue and saying how Spotify’s response was unacceptable, with another user accusing them of “sweeping it under the rug.”

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