Spotify also stops free variant streaming service in Russia

Spotify is going to leave the Russian market completely. The company has not offered a paid subscription since the beginning of March and Spotify Free will no longer be available. The company cites the new disinformation laws in the country as the reason.

Spotify had already stopped its paid offer on March 9, Variety wrote at the time. In addition, it had also closed all its Russian offices and removed Russian state media RT and Sputnik from the platform. It wanted to continue to offer Spotify Free to “keep the global information supply going.”

That is now also coming to an end, according to a message published by Bloomberg, among others shared is becoming. “Unfortunately, recently enacted legislation is making it more difficult to gather information. Free speech is being eliminated and certain types of news are a danger to Spotify’s employees and possibly even listeners.” In Russia, people who, in the eyes of the state, share false information about the war in Ukraine can face up to 15 years in prison, the state said. new law.

Spotify expects the shutdown of services in the country to be completed sometime in April. Earlier this month, Spotify chief executive Paul Vogel said there were 1.5 million subscribers in Russia, representing a revenue loss of less than 1 percent for the audio streaming giant.