Spotify's about-face on abortion ads

Today let’s talk about a controversy over an abortion ad, and what it reveals about the confusion that has resulted from the Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade earlier this year.

Mayday Health is a nonprofit organization with a straightforward mission: “to share info about how to access safe abortion pills in any state.” Its website walks people through how to safely obtain pills while obscuring their digital footprint, and its aggressive advertising tactics in recent weeks have drawn scrutiny from anti-abortion advocates. In August, the attorney general of Mississippi subpoenaed the organization after it put up three billboards reading “Pregnant? you still have a choice.” (They just put up similar billboards in Idaho.)

On Sept. 30, the organization tried to get its message out a different way: by buying ads on Spotify. But a few days later the ad, which promoted access to abortion pills, was rejected.

“I think the only way we could launch this is if the ads and the landing page are much more general about health care providers and options,” a Spotify ad reviewer wrote to the organization, according to emails shared with Platformer. “The mention of any abortion services on any piece of creative will likely not get approved in Ad Studio. Sorry this is so rigid! Let us know if you have any other questions.”

Spotify’s posted advertising policies do not appear to ban abortion services, though “contraception” is placed in a “restricted” category that requires additional review. In another email to Mayday, though, Spotify’s ad reviewer suggested that abortion ads are banned.

“As of right now, this is currently prohibited within our policies: Abortion products and service, abortion providers, and pregnancy counseling, does not include standard OB/GYN providers. We unfortunately can’t accept this campaign at the moment but we’ll let you know if that changes!”

After Platformer inquired about the discrepancy, Spotify said the rejection had been an error and that the ad would be allowed after all.

Here’s what Spotify told me:

“At this time, health services (including medicines & supplements, pharmacies & pharmaceuticals, healthcare providers, e.g. eye care, hospitals, dentists, contraceptives, abortion and pregnancy counseling) fall under ‘restricted ads’ in our advertising editorial policy, meaning we accept them in a limited capacity with certain limitations and restrictions (e.g. prohibited content and targeting parameters). That said, we regularly assess our ad policies based on the evolving media ecosystem and legal requirements. In this case, our ad reviewer made an error and mischaracterized our policies to Mayday Health. We’ve reached out to them to discuss.”

What’s notable to me here is that the policies cited by Spotify’s ad reviewer regarding abortion products and service aren’t posted online, at least nowhere I’ve found. If that policy exists, and was indeed in place, it suggests that what happened was not an error so much as a quiet change to a policy that was never officially released. I’ve asked Spotify to clarify, and will update this post if I hear back.

Before the 180, Mayday had criticized Spotify in a Twitter thread, creating a 119-hour playlist of musicians accused and convicted of sexual assault in an effort to shame the company into changing its mind.

“States can try to ban abortion. But they cannot ban information, unless powerful actors like Spotify let them,” Olivia Raisner, Mayday cofounder, told me after the campaign was approved. ”We're glad Spotify ultimately agreed to air this ad — which we’re now going to buy nationally. We hope this sends a clear message: You cannot silence speech about abortion pills, which are safe, effective, and FDA-approved through the mail in all 50 states.” 

The overturning of Roe has caused significant confusion for platforms attempting to navigate a political and PR minefield.

In June, Google updated its policies to add a label for advertisers who buy abortion-related keywords but don’t actually provide abortion care. But the company has failed to apply the label consistently to crisis pregnancy centers, which counsel people to keep their pregnancies, according to Bloomberg. 

Hulu also came under fire for blocking ads related to abortions and guns, under its policy that prohibits ads on “controversial topics of public importance.” After Democrats blasted the company, the company reversed its decision. 

The issue is particularly important to Democrats who are pouring millions of dollars in Facebook ads about candidates’ stances on abortion ahead of next month’s US midterm elections. The issue has become a unifying force for the party, which it hopes to use to generate strong turnout at the polls. 

The issue hits particular sensitivities at Spotify, which has burnished its credentials as a staunch free-speech advocate this year through standing by its top podcast host, Joe Rogan, through a series of controversies related to racist speech and Rogan’s promotion of vaccine hesitancy.

“If we want even a shot at achieving our bold ambitions, it will mean having content on Spotify that many of us may not be proud to be associated with,” Spotify CEO Daniel Ek told employees in February, according to remarks obtained by The Verge. “Not anything goes, but there will be opinions, ideas, and beliefs that we disagree with strongly and even makes us angry or sad.”

— Zoe Schiffer contributed to this report.

On the podcast this week: Legs are coming to the metaverse, and I institute a quality lockdown that will last through the end of the year. Kevin and I chat with the Times’ Noam Scheiber and Erin Griffith about how platform power is shifting to workers in the gig economy. Finally, we debut the theme music for our ”This Week in AI” segment. (We also debut the segment.)

Apple | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon | Google

Platformer sale

Thanks to everyone who has taken advantage of our first-ever sale. If you think any of your friends or coworkers would benefit from getting the full Platformer experience, feel free to forward this email or share this link with them — the sale runs through Friday.

Governing

• Elon Musk denied a report that he spoke with Putin before tweeting out his plan to end the war in Ukraine, but experts still worry about what is purchase of Twitter will mean for provocations by world leaders on the platform. (Joseph Menn and Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post)
  • The Elon Musk-Twitter saga is hitting Twitter employees particularly hard, as staffers report feeling ‘battle-weary’ and ready to quit. (Hannah Murphy and Dave Lee / Financial Times)
• Twitter is considering changing its policies around permanent bans, potentially bringing its content moderation more in line with Elon Musk’s vision for the platform. (Hannah Murphy / Financial Times)
• The UK’s competition regulator is concerned that Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard may harm competition. The deal did not pass the initial phase of approval and has now been sent to a second phase. (Christopher Dring / Games Industry)
• A third of Federal Trade Commission senior officials owned or traded stock in companies that were undergoing an FTC merger review or investigation between 2016 and 2021, including Amazon, Meta, Google, and Microsoft. (Brody Mullins, Rebecca Ballhaus, Chad Day, John West and Coulter Jones / Wall Street Journal)
• The White House has relaxed sanctions on Iran to encourage tech companies like Google, WhatsApp, and Signal, to provide critical tech services to protestors. (Joseph Menn and Yasmeen Abutaleb / Washington Post)
• Two Meta executives were inadvertently identified in a lawsuit accusing them of accepting bribes on behalf of OnlyFans as part of a scheme to help the adult platform by getting its competitors “blacklisted” online. (Dell Cameron / Gizmodo)
• Russia added Meta to a list of "terrorist and extremist" organizations after the company said it would allow statements like "death to Russian invaders" but not credible threats against civilians. (Agence France-Presse)
• Google approved Donald Trump’s free speech social media app Truth Social for distribution in the Google Play Store. (Sara Fischer / Axios)
• Foreign-language misinformation is spreading in US immigrant communities ahead of the midterm elections. Multilingual fact checkers say platforms like Facebook and YouTube aren’t doing enough to stop it. (Tiffany Hsu / New York Times)
• Election workers in Arizona and Pennsylvania saw a surge in phishing schemes ahead of the states’ primaries earlier this year. (Edward Graham / Nextgov)
• Apple is withholding increased education and health care benefits from employees at its only unionized store, telling those workers they need to negotiate benefits via the collective bargaining agreement instead. (Mark Gurman / Bloomberg)
• US soldiers who tested Microsoft new HoloLens goggles reported suffering headaches, eyestrain and nausea. (Anthony Capaccio / Bloomberg)

Industry

• TikTok launched a new feature called Profile Kit to allow creators to easily showcase up to six TikTok videos on other platforms. (Mia Sato / The Verge)
• TikTok parent company ByteDance is in talks with music labels about expanding its music-streaming service globally to compete with Spotify. (Jessica Toonkel, Anne Steele and Salvador Rodriguez / Wall Street Journal)
• Displaced families in Syrian camps are begging for donations on TikTok, and the company is reportedly taking a large portion of the proceeds. (Hannah Gelbart, Mamdouh Akbiek and Ziad Al-Qattan / BBC)
• Mark Zuckerberg is promoting the idea of an open, interoperable metaverse, but his definition of openness is a platform built on corporate deals and case-by-case permissions, this sharp piece argues. (Adi Robertson / The Verge)
• Twitch says its old monetization model for creators, which offered a 70/30 revenue split for top tier streamers, was not a viable long-term business strategy. (Nathan Grayson / Washington Post)
• Prime Day shoppers are spending less on big-ticket items, and the average order size is down 23 percent from the sale in July. (Spencer Soper / Bloomberg)
• Pinterest shares rose 34 percent from a two-year low in mid-June, thanks to improving user growth and engagement. (Subrat Patnaik / Bloomberg)
• Netflix is launching an ad-supported tier for $6.99 a month starting in November. (Charles Pulliam-Moore / The Verge)
• Apple is holding early discussions with media agencies about monetizing its original video content through ads. (Michael Bürgi and Ronan Shields / Digiday)
• Google announced new Chat features, including message threading and custom emoji. (Jasmine Hicks / The Verge)
• Project Starline, Google’s 3D video chat booth, makes virtual calls feel like one-on-one conversations, but it’s years away from actually being a product. (Jay Peters / The Verge)
• Signal is going to phase out SMS and MMS message support from its Android app to streamline the user experience and prioritize security and privacy. (Sergiu Gatlan / Bleeping Computer)
• Microsoft is adding AI-generated art to its suite of Office software with a new app named Microsoft Designer. (James Vincent / The Verge)
• Microsoft Office is rebranding to “Microsoft 365” to mark the company’s growing collection of productivity apps. (Tom Warren / The Verge)
• Artist Damien Hirst burned 1,000 pieces of art for a project called The Currency where he transforms physical paintings into NFTs by burning the physical versions. Okay! (Halisia Hubbard / NPR)

Those good tweets

Talk to us

Send us tips, comments, questions, and forbidden ads: casey@platformer.news and zoe@platformer.news.