Meghan broke up with her boyfriend after months of emotional abuse, and told him not to contact her again.
Over the next 18 months, he created fake social media profiles so he could tweet at her, post photos of places she’d just been to, and harass her loved ones.
She was able to block him on every platform, bar one: Spotify, because there’s no option.
Spotify logo
While direct communication through the platform isn’t possible, abusers can make their victims aware of the fact they’re being monitored.
She told Buzzfeed that her ex would “follow what I was listening to and send me emails about it, convinced that what I was listening to was proof I wanted to be with him again”.
He was obsessed with monitoring her, and Spotify gave him the ability to do so.
@Spotify It's ridiculous that in this day and age you still don't have a block feature. I love sharing music w/ friends, but my ex still uses my Spotify information to harass me. For the safety & satisfaction of your users, let us block—a feature on every other social platform.
— madam psychosis (@madampsychosis) February 4, 2018
Spotify’s response was initially confidence inspiring.
Hey, we're sorry to hear that. Right now it's not possible, but we'll pass the feedback on to the relevant folks /TM
— SpotifyCares (@SpotifyCares) February 4, 2018
Then a status update was posted in the Spotify forums that acknowledged the implementation of a blocking feature as a “good idea”.
But then a representative for Spotify told Buzzfeed that the company does not currently have any plans to actually implement a blocking feature.
https://twitter.com/trrishaaaaa/status/1018368156010610688
Being able to block someone is a pretty basic component of any social media platform, but my guess is Spotify doesn’t think of itself as a social media platform in the same way Twitter and Facebook are.
This is despite Apple Music having EXACTLY this feature.
https://twitter.com/WesHilliard/status/1019787436761735168
Hopefully people like Meghan speaking out about how Spotify can be used to harass and intimidate pushes the company to implement the feature sooner rather than later.
Change.org petitions have previously been launched about this issue, but despite receiving over 7000 signatures, they did not push Spotify to look into a block feature.
The fact that something as seemingly benign as a music streaming service can be used to harass another person is something that should concern Spotify, and it is in their best interests, as well as the public’s, for them to do something about it.