Spotify shut down its office in Russia because of the attack on Ukraine

Spotify shut down its office in Russia because of the attack on Ukraine.

Spotify said on Wednesday that it is closing its office in Russia for good because of what the company called Moscow’s “unprovoked attack on Ukraine.”

Suppose a social media company has more than 500,000 daily users. In that case, Russian law signed by President Vladimir Putin in July 2021 says that the company must open a branch in the country or face restrictions as severe as outright bans.

Before the March deadline, only a few companies, like Spotify, had agreed.

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week, which Moscow calls a “special operation,” Western governments have told companies that work for them to fight back against Putin in any way possible.

Since last week, Spotify has made sure that its employees are safe and that Spotify is still an essential source of news for both global and local news at a time when getting information is more critical than ever.

According to Spotify, it has looked at a lot of content since the start of the war. It has limited how people can find shows run by Russian state-affiliated TV.

Before this week, Spotify also removed all content from state media RT and Sputnik from the service in many countries except for Russia. This comes after Facebook and Twitter did the same thing this week.

During an email on Wednesday, Sputnik said that “any restrictions on journalists are blatant censorship and the dirtiest example yet of a violation of the freedom of speech.”

RT said earlier this week that tech companies had not come up with why they were taking it down.

Spotify said it would match the donations made by its employees, two to one, to help people in need in their communities.