Music Platforms Remove Racist Content Following BBC Investigation

Music streaming sites such as Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube have been found allowing racist, anti-semitic and homophobic content to be released, a BBC investigation has found. Its been revealed that these three major platforms, as well as French service Deezer, include content linked to white supremacy, music glorifying the holocaust and "more than 30 groups associated with organisations classified as hate groups by civil rights groups" (BBC).

Previous years have seen Spotify try to crack down on this issue following the discovery of white supremacist artists and hateful content, that led to a revision of their hate content policy. All three platforms have since admitted to the mistakes made enabling this content to be published. The individuals names of these bands and artists that released this content has not been released by the BBC, in an effort to prevent helping people from finding any of it.

"The onus is on streaming platforms to do a better job at monitoring and searching for this music. They simply need to invest more" says Civil Rights Strategist Erin Ward. "This is about the credibility of a company and a brand. Brands are important and white power music will damage your streaming brand". People "trust streaming services" and didn't use them "to be presented with hate music and hate lyrics".

Ward has further raised the point of streaming sites' algorithms intensifying this issue. The development of suggested artists and playlist programming to become more advanced and specific has enabled this music to become more accessible, to both those searching for it and those that are not.

All have since released statements condemning the content found on their sites, with their plans to prevent similar situations from occuring in the future.