Following a BBC News investigation, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and Deezer have now removed racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic content from their services.
Daniel Kraemer & Steve Holden for BBC News:
It’s difficult to quantify the scale of the problem. However, the BBC investigation easily found at least 20 songs with disturbing content:
• Songs glorifying ‘Aryan nations’ (The Nazis’ racial philosophy taught that Aryans were the master race)
• Bands repeatedly using anti-Semitic stereotypes and language, even celebrating the Holocaust
• Publicly curated playlists on Spotify under the title NSBM (National Socialist Black Metal), a genre linked to Nazism
• More than 30 groups associated with organisations classified as hate groups by civil rights groupsSearching out the music required no specialist skills or effort.
Most examples were found on Spotify… On Spotify, public playlists and “suggested artists” did make it easier for the BBC to find extreme content.
Apple Music said the company had hidden the majority of the tracks highlighted by the BBC, while the rest are still under investigation. It also highlighted that it has “strong editorial guidelines that prohibit distributors and rights owners submitting content like this”.
MacDailyNews Take: Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Deezer have tens of millions of tracks. Perhaps, one day, Machine Learning will be able to better ferret out objectionable content that services do not want to carry.
Absolutely brilliant! The woke crowd is coming for music. Cancel it all! Music that incites violence. Any music with sexual or adult language. Any song ever sung or written by a white person. Cancel it ALL!
Unless you are part of a regularly disadvantaged group (Black, Gay, Muslim, etc., etc.) it is hard to comprehend the impact that hate speech has upon those groups. It also perpetuates an “us/them” mentality, leads to conflict and results in tearing things down rather than building them up. No society can thrive for long amid constant conflict. Perhaps even more importantly, such speech teaches children that hatred of certain groups is acceptable, which simply perpetuates the problem.
Society has always benefited when people work together. Division and hatred just breeds more division and hatred, which inevitably results in conflict. Energy that could be directed to solving problems instead gets redirected to conflict, which simply leads to more division and hatred.
One does not need to like everyone, but allowing hate speech to continue unchecked does no one any good.
Exactly. The Government (in the US) cannot control the content of speech consistently with the Constitution. To the contrary, private parties have absolutely no legal duty to tolerate hate speech. They should have the social responsibility to control its propagation, to the maximum degree that lies within their power. It is flatly immoral not to do so. For all the griping here about social justice warriors, it is hard for me to accept that any American can prefer injustice.
Could not care less your preaching the high and almighty “social responsibility” of private parties and business. That is their business and not all are the cut from the same cloth as much as the Leftists try to wish it so.
Far more IMPORTANT and pay attention applies to all citizens — HATE SPEECH is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. Do you UNDERSTAND?
The ACLU for decades fought for white supremacists and now black supremacists right to free speech. The problem with the woke snowflake interpretation is they grew up in a fantasy CODDLED digital age glaring at screens for information and pleasure and they were never taught basics of human nature specifically, “sticks and stones can hurt my bones but words will never hurt me.” Words are not bullets, knife wounds or beatings with a brick or a bat.
Suck it up, buttercups and snowflakes everywhere…
You clearly do not understand (or UNDERSTAND) that the First Amendment allows Party A to engage in hate speech, but it does not require Party B to publish that speech. Indeed, the Constitution equally prohibits the Government from forcing racists and sexists of whatever color to say something other than what they believe AND from forcing iTunes, Spotify, and other publishers to publish something other than what they believe. You have a right to call folks names and I have the right not to repeat your insults; Apple and Spotify have those same rights.
Your in the weeds deflection does not address my main point — HATE speech is protected by the US Constitution in the First Amendment.
Either read the Constitution or check with the ACLU if you are still confused.
Regarding private business I have always said they have a right to censor speech, are you a dummy and can’t remember?…
“Unless you are part of a regularly disadvantaged group (Black, Gay, Muslim, etc., etc.) it is hard to comprehend the impact that hate speech has upon those groups.”
NO! I don’t have to be a chicken to know when an egg is rotten. Blanket statements putting people into boxed groups is just wrong and irresponsible to promote stereotypes as you just wrote.
The majority of Blacks, Gays and Muslims do very well financially securely achieving the American Dream and day by day under President Trump’s policies (Criminal Justice Reform for one) the numbers are increasing. All these groups are under the same constitutional protections and laws as any other race in the USA. Get a grip.
The groups you mention — one race, one sexual preference and one religion — are the latest Democrat political darlings flavor of the year and history is being ignored. If you put the doobie down, for centuries groups of people have been discriminated. From Spartacus to American Indians to Irish NYC turn of the century and hundreds more this is nothing new. What’s new is modern life cannot cope and deal with it properly.
I can’t address the few whiners and leftist PC cry babies who scream the loudest that can’t handle insults from anyone in any race. Obviously, either they were not taught to handle themselves because of our Politically Correct School system or poor parenting and don’t understand the difference between words and bullets.
As a white male no one can argue against the most racist insults today are continually directed at whites, particularly males. Personally, I have been called a “cracker” and “whitey” more than once when I lived in DC, NYC and other places. Like water off a duck’s back.
Knock yourself out insult artists, could not care less and does affect my life one atomic particle. Mature people refuse to give power to someone else, allow them to control their feelings and make them feel bad by simply hurling empty negative words their way — simply ridiculous! Grow up people…
I actually pity men like you who are so oblivious to reality that you cannot understand the difference between being called “whitey” by someone who has no power and being called a racial slur by the members of a group that control your access to employment, housing, liberty, and life itself.
Ever hear of “cognitive dissonance?” What people say is strongly correlated to what they do. The men who called you a cracker would likely have rejected your job application, refused to rent to you, arrested you, or killed you while arresting you. They didn’t, because they didn’t have the ability to do that and get away with it. For 400 years, white men in America have had that power over black folks. They have expressed their power by both calling them names AND acting on their assumption of inferiority.
Those who begin by throwing hateful words often continue by throwing sticks and stones. The government has to tolerate hate speech. Private parties like Apple and Spotify do not.
Congrats! The most ridiculous deflection Libtard extrapolation post and nothing even close to reality you have ever written.
Nuff said…
I’ve pointed this out about Apple Music since the day Cook did another one of his disingenuous virtue signaling episodes by banning Alex Jones. Alex Jones and his borderline flat earth commentary was oh so horrible while as long as it was music, you could convey any wretched disgusting message you wanted, especially if it was rap. Even now the BBC is only going after racist and homophobic music by WHITE guys. Racist, homophobic, misogynistic, violent black music is just fine. Keep fanning the flames of division with your mega-hypocrisy and you’ll get the collapse you seek and a whole hell of a lot more.
How about it cook? Why not clean up all of the filth in your music library. It’s a soundtrack that black Americans don’t need.
Awesome!..,
Apple get out of content (ART) low margin 🙂
Apple has been a company devoted to the creation, consumption and delivery of content since its inception. I’d say Apple has done pretty well with this “low margin” sector.
To do as you suggest would “Microsoft-ify” Apple. Apple has been a company, in contrast, that’s pursued “taste” (Job’s descriptor) and the essence of the word is “art-ish.”
Sorry, Movies and TV…there is nothing there but a money pit.
By far the most sexist messages come from rap music. And there is lots of antisemitism there too.
Will anyone but white artists be judged by this?
No America rap is self destruction N this and N that.
TM: Your question screams of white privilege.
CRT Hole: TM’s question screams of white privilege? How so? Please explain the difference between white and black artists “expressing” shoot this shoot that, f–k this and that b-tch, lick this and that wet n–gr p-ssy? Isn’t it bLACK privilege that bLACKS can express themselves but other’s can’t? Please explain it to us in detail because many of us just don’t get it. Thank you so much!
It was a joke. The fact (seemingly) that such a statement has to be stipulated with a
“ /s “ is stunning. The “fact” culture “can’t” call out the bigotry and sexist lingo in rap shows how linked to CRT our culture is. It also calls out the rot that is CRT. Because white America has ruled over blacks, via slavery and other examples of subservience, whites are to have different/permissive standards in respect to the black community…as a form of penance, or reparation.
It’s nothing but guilt-ridden compromise. It also screams of the bigotry of soft/low expectations.
Tau’s question was a courageous and delightful surprise.
Don’t be dumb. You’re like the old people complaining about Rock music and Elvis’s hips. And while I can’t speak for white privilege though it’s dumb and full of bs, which is more than enough. Someone doesn’t have to like rap music – I’m not a huge fan myself – though I also don’t claim to know what I’m supposedly not listening to sounds like or says.
And as far as black people’s expressing themselves let’s not forget it’s exactly why most of them need to shut up about things they know nothing about.
As your comment clearly illustrates.
I always love me some Thelonious! You are one smart dude.
BTW, for those who like Belgian style ale, Brother Thelonious by north coast brewing is my fave. Great stuff.