Spotify's Statement in Response to the War in Ukraine

We are deeply shocked and saddened by the unprovoked attack on Ukraine. Our first priority over the past week has been the safety of our employees and to ensure that Spotify continues to serve as an important source of global and regional news at a time when access to information is more important than ever.

In response to the crisis, we have taken several steps. We have closed our office in Russia indefinitely and we are providing individual support to our people in the region as well as our global community of Ukrainian employees.

Our team has reviewed thousands of pieces of content since the start of the war, and has restricted the discoverability of shows owned and operated by Russian state-affiliated media. Earlier this week, we also took the additional step of removing all RT and Sputnik content from Spotify in the EU and other markets. Today, we launched a global guide on the Spotify platform to provide our users around the world with trusted news. We think it's critically important to try to keep our service operational in Russia to allow for the global flow of information.

Our employees around the world are committed to helping people affected by the war in Ukraine and we are matching their donations two to one to support local humanitarian efforts. We are exploring additional steps that we can take and will continue to do what is in the best interest of our employees and our listeners.

*Update as of March 4, 2022: As devastating events continue to unfold in Ukraine, the global community of artists and listeners have been looking for ways to help those affected by war. So, we are mobilizing our Artist Fundraising Pick feature in Spotify for Artists to be used to help raise funds for the effort. This feature allows our community to seamlessly contribute by allowing artists to select a fundraising destination to place at the top of their Spotify profile to then collect donations from listeners. Artists will also have the ability to change their artist image on their Spotify profile to support Ukraine. Read more about this feature on Spotify for Artists.

*Update as of March 25, 2022: Spotify has continued to believe that it's critically important to try and keep our service operational in Russia to provide trusted, independent news and information in the region. Unfortunately, recently enacted legislation further restricting access to information, eliminating free expression, and criminalizing certain types of news puts the safety of Spotify's employees and possibly even our listeners at risk. After carefully considering our options and the current circumstances, we have come to the difficult decision to fully suspend our service in Russia.

LINK:	https://newsroom.spotify.com/2022-03-02/spotifys-statement-in-response...
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