Spotify Users Furious As Music Streamer Airs ICE Recruitment Ads On Platform

Spotify users have reported receiving ICE recruitment ads over the past month, prompting calls for a boycott of the service.

Wake up babe, a new Spotify boycott is happening.

This week, several Spotify users have been raising the flag that the music streamer has been broadcasting ICE recruitment advertising on its ad-supported free plan. These ads call on the general public to “join the mission to protect the US” by becoming an agent for the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to “fulfil your purpose”.

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A Spotify representative told Rolling Stone that the Department of Homeland Security commercials were part of a “broad campaign” by the government agency and that they did not violate any advertising policies on the platform. The representative would then go on to suggest users thumbs up or down the ads to “help manage their ads preferences”.

These ads follow after the Trump administration invested $30 billion (USD) to hire at least 10,000 more deportation officers by the end of the year, according to the Associated Press. As a result, the administration has been going hard on its aggressive advertisements, casting a wide net on demographics and platforms.

In August, the DHS would confirm to The Independent its intent to run advertisements on X, YouTube, Amazon Prime, even LinkedIn, of all places, and more.

Following this report, users have shared that HBO Max and Pandora have been broadcasting ICE recruitment ads for the last few months.

Some of the advertisements even specifically target local police officers, saying “You took an oath to protect and serve, to keep your family, your city, safe… But in sanctuary cities, you’re ordered to stand down while dangerous illegals walk free.”

As a result, several Reddit threads have been discussing VPNs to stream to avoid the ads. Others, however, are directly opting to cancel their subscriptions and boycott the service completely.

Rolling Stone would also report that DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the publication that there was “nothing offensive or partisan” with removing what it called criminals from the United States. “The ICE recruitment campaign is a resounding success with more than 150,000 applications rolling in from patriotic Americans answering the call to defend the Homeland by helping arrest and remove the worst of the worst from our country,” McLaughlin said.

Spotify is also facing another boycott following former CEO Daniel Ek’s investments into venture capital firm Prima Materia, which has backed firms such as Germany’s Helsing, which develops weapons systems powered by artificial intelligence.

News of this investment would spread across social media, prompting musicians such as Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Massive Attack and more to boycott the platform.Ek would step down as CEO in September and remain in an executive chairman position.