Spotify shutters Russia office, pulls Kremlin media from platform
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Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) has shut down its Russia office "indefinitely" and removed all content from Kremlin-backed RT and Sputnik from its platform, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine.
It's not stopping its general service to Russia, however, telling Variety it's "critically important to try to keep our service operational in Russia to allow for the global flow of information."
The company says it's providing individual support to its regional employees, as well as its global Ukrainian employees, and is matching employee donations for humanitarian aid two-to-one.
RT and Sputnik also ran into trouble with Google (GOOG, GOOGL), which blocked mobile apps connected to the state media entities from its Play app store. Google had previously moved to remove the publishers from its news features. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has ensured that RT News and Sputnik News were no longer able to be downloaded from its App Store outside Russia.
Spotify was one of only a few companies complying with a new Russian law requiring a local office (along with Apple and Rakuten's Viber) - while others (including Google, Meta Platforms, Twitter, TikTok, Zoom, Likee, Discord, Twitch, Telegram and Pinterest) ignored the requirement.