Spotify Deletes ‘White Power’ Bands From its Platform

The world’s largest music streaming service, Spotify, is preparing to remove “white power” activists who have been marked as “hate bands” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

RELATED: 
The Revolution Will Not Be Posted: Is Big Tech's Support for Black Lives Matter Opportunist?

Sparked by an article posted earlier this week by Digital Music News titled "I Just Found 37 Hate Bands On Spotify”, the service released a statement saying they have removed the groups.

A Spotify spokesperson told Billboard that while record companies and aggregators are “at first hand responsible” for the content they deliver, Spotify will not tolerate “illegal content or material that favors hatred or incites violence against race, religion, sexuality or the like.”

“In the wake of violent clashes in Charlottesville and an increasingly vocal, post-Trump white supremacy voice, the presence of white supremacy music on Spotify takes on a different light,” Digital Music News founder Paul Resnikoff wrote.

Spotify has also started to promote their "Patriotic Passion" playlist, which includes artists such as Nas, Khalid, Jimi Hendrix, Lady Gaga, James Brown among others. The company says the playlist is "a soundtrack to an America worth fighting for."

The move by Spotify is making waves. One of its competitors, Deezer, also released a statement stating that it  does not condone "any type of discrimination or form of hate against individuals or groups because of their race, religion, gender or sexuality."

The service told the Daily News that the company is currently reviewing its content and will continue to remove material "connected to any white supremacist movement or belief system."