Turkey Opens Spotify Probe After ‘Provocative Playlist’ Complaint

Turkey’s competition authority has launched an investigation into Spotify for anti-competitive practices as a deputy minister demanded legal action over “provocative” playlists allegedly offensive to the president’s wife and disrespectful of Islam.

In a statement released on Friday, the competition authority said it had opened an investigation into “various allegations that the strategies and policies implemented by Spotify… in Turkey has caused anti-competitive effects in the music industry”.

It said the probe would seek to establish whether Spotify gave more visibility to some artists and engaged in unfair practices in the distribution of royalties, thereby violating the competition law.

The investigation was announced the same day as deputy culture minister Batuhan Mumcu called for legal action against Spotify in a post on X, citing its “refusal” to respond to requests to remove playlists with names deemed offensive.

“Spotify persistently refuses to take the necessary steps despite all our previous warnings,” he wrote.

“Content that targets our religious and national values and insults the beliefs of our society has not been corrected,” he added, saying Turkey had been “closely monitoring content on Spotify for a long time”.

He pointed to content published “under the guise of ‘playlists’.. that disregards our religious sensitivities toward our Prophet Mohammed, deliberately and unacceptably targeting the beliefs, sacred values, and spiritual world of our people”.

He also singled out playlists allegedly targeting Emine Erdogan, wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which were “insidiously provocative and morally unacceptable”.

“This irresponsibility and lack of oversight, which disregards the sensitivities of our society, has now become a legal matter.. I call on our competent institutions to take action,” he wrote.

Attached to his post was an animated graphic showing a string of playlists with names referencing either Erdogan’s wife or the life of the Prophet Mohammed.

In a statement, Spotify, which launched in Turkey in 2013, said its operations complied with “all applicable laws” but it would cooperate with the investigation although it lacked “details on the inspection’s scope or focus”.

“We are cooperating with the investigation, are actively seeking to understand it, and will work toward a swift, constructive resolution with the Turkish Competition Authority,” the statement said, without making any mention of the playlist allegations.

It said in 2024, it had paid “over 2 billion Turkish lira ($25 million) to the local music industry” with its service playing a “pivotal (role) in growing Turkish artists’ royalties globally”.