Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music remove racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic content

Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music have now removed racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic content from their services, following a BBC investigation. 

The BBC claims that it found at least 20 songs with “disturbing content” such as 

° Songs glorifying “Aryan nations” (The Nazis’ racial philosophy taught that Aryans were the master race);

° Bands repeatedly using anti-Semitic stereotypes and language, even celebrating the Holocaust;

° Publicly curated playlists on Spotify under the title NSBM (National Socialist Black Metal), a genre linked to Nazism;

° More than 30 groups associated with organizations classified as hate groups by civil rights groups.

Apple Music told the BBC that it has hidden the majority of the tracks highlighted by the report, while the rest are still under investigation. Apple also noted that it has “strong editorial guidelines that prohibit distributors and rights owners submitting content like this.”

(Dennis Sellers has been covering the Apple industry since 1996. In addition to“Apple World Today,” he also runs his own freelance writing/editing service. If you want more info about the latter, email him at dennis.sellers@comcast.net.)