Spotify Confirms It Stopped Running ICE Recruitment Ads At The End of 2025

Spotify has confirmed it stopped running ICE recruitment ads at the end of 2025 following the conclusion of a federal campaign.

Spotify has confirmed that it stopped running recruitment advertisements for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the end of 2025, following the conclusion of a broader federal advertising campaign. The confirmation came via a statement to Rolling Stone, after renewed public scrutiny around the platform’s involvement in Department of Homeland Security advertising.

“Yes, there are currently no ICE ads running on Spotify,” a Spotify spokesperson told Rolling Stone. “The advertisements mentioned were part of a U.S. government recruitment campaign that ran across all major media and platforms. The campaign ended on most platforms and channels, including Spotify, at the end of last year.”

The clarification arrives just one day after an ICE agent fatally shot a woman in Minneapolis, an incident that has sparked protests and national outrage. Based on Spotify’s statement above, the timing is coincidental. The spokesperson stated that the conclusion of the advertising campaign occurred weeks before the shooting and was not connected to the incident.

Spotify was one of several major tech and media platforms that faced criticism last year for carrying DHS and ICE recruitment ads. Others included Meta, which operates Facebook and Instagram, as well as Google and YouTube. As reported by The Independent in October, the Spotify ads encouraged listeners to “join the mission to protect America” and “fulfill your mission” by applying to join ICE. Another ad, which appeared to be targeted towards serving police officer in Chicago, suggested that they were sick of being “…ordered to stand down while dangerous illegals walk free.”

When the ads were initially discovered on Spotify by the public, the streaming platform released a statement addressing the backlash: “This advertisement is part of a broad campaign the US government is running across television, streaming, and online channels,” it read, before going on to note that “The content does not violate our advertising policies. However, users can mark any ad with a thumbs up or thumbs down to help manage their ad preferences.”

A number of artists including Saetia, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and Massive Attack have pulled their music from Spotify in the last twelve months – with some citing the ICE ads directly as their reasoning, while others noted unfairly low royalty payouts, and co-founder Daniel Ek’s investments in AI military drone technology through the German firm Helsing. Spotify has made clear that Helsing is an entirely seperate entity in statements since. Ek announced in October he would be stepping down from the CEO role (while remaining executive chairman) by the end of 2025.

The advertising push on Spotify and other platforms formed part of a wider effort initiated under the Trump administration, which allocated $30 billion toward hiring at least 10,000 additional deportation officers by the end of 2025, according to reporting from The Associated Press.

Data from Equis in November showed that DHS spent $2.8 million on English and Spanish-language ads on Facebook and Instagram since March 1, along with an additional $500,000 on ICE recruitment ads beginning in August. On Google and YouTube, DHS reportedly spent nearly $3 million on Spanish-language advertising encouraging self-deportation. An industry source told Rolling Stone that Spotify received approximately $74,000 from DHS for running its ads.

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin defended the recruitment drive in a statement on November 2, saying that “hiring law enforcement officers is mission critical in order to fix the crisis the Biden administration manufactured by letting millions of criminal illegal aliens come into the country…Nothing will slow us down from recruiting more officers.”

The Minneapolis shooting has intensified public attention globally on ICE’s actions. Thousands gathered for a candlelight vigil to mourn Renee Nicole Good, who was shot and killed by a masked ICE agent. DHS claims agents were targeting a “violent rioter” who “weaponised her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them.” However, video footage has led several officials, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, to dispute that account.

“The narrative ICE is spinning immediately after this was that this was purely self-defence, and that the act by the victim was some sort of domestic terrorism — that, I’ll say it again, is bullshit,” Frey said. “That is bullshit. The way they’ve been conducting themselves is also bullshit. And we all need to be very clear-eyed about what’s happening.”