Spotify has removed white supremacy "hate music" off the platform

In light of recent turmoil and heated conversation in American politics following a fatal riot in Charlottesville, Spotify has taken upon itself to remove several artists and songs from the platform that were deemed to be "hate music" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Brought to Spotify's attention after Digital Music News unearthed 27 white supremacy bands on the music streaming platform, the artist pages (which all had relatively small followings) have now been removed.

"Spotify takes immediate action to remove any such material as soon as it has been brought to our attention," a representative said. "We are glad to have been alerted to this content - and have already removed many of the bands identified today, whilst urgently reviewing the remainder." The representative went on to explain that record companies and labels are "at first hand" responsible for the content that makes up Spotify's immense catalogue, but "illegal content or material that favors hatred or incites violence against race, religion, sexuality or the like is not tolerated by us".