DSA Transparency Report
2025 - Introduction
Reporting period: 1 January 2025 - 31 December 2025
1. Introduction
Spotify provides digital music, podcast, and audiobook services that give users access to millions of songs and other content from creators worldwide. For clarity, throughout this report we will refer to the main consumer-facing Spotify app (on which users can listen to music, podcasts, and other audio) as “Spotify Main.”
Spotify is committed to delivering human creativity to audiences around the world. Spotify firmly believes in fostering different forms of artistic expression, ideas, perspectives, and voices.
However, that doesn’t mean that anything goes on our services. Spotify's Terms of Use, which incorporate Spotify’s Platform Rules, require users to comply with various policies and guidelines regarding content on Spotify. These rules apply to all content on our services, including licensed content. Spotify may take various content actions when something violates the Platform Rules and applicable laws.
Spotify is committed to clearly explaining our operations and actions to our users and the public to ensure a safe and enjoyable listening experience for everyone. To learn more, visit the Spotify Safety & Privacy Centre.
2. Overview of report
As a player in the music, audiobook, and podcasting industries, Spotify believes in transparency and accountability in our operations and those of other digital services. This transparency report is published in compliance with Article 15 of the EU Digital Services Act (DSA, Regulation (EU) 2022/2065) and the Implementing Regulation setting out templates concerning the transparency reporting obligations (Implementing Regulation, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2835).
The report contains information on Spotify’s content moderation activities, including the resources and measures applied across EU Member States, for the period from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, in relation to the following intermediary services offered in the EU during the reporting period:
- Spotify Main
- Spotify for Creators
- Spotify for Artists
- Spotify for Authors
These services differ in functionality and user role (e.g., consumer listening versus creator submission and management tools). The accompanying transparency report reports on each service separately where required under the DSA.
Spotify has aligned reporting for the full reporting period to the extent reasonably possible and provides contextual explanations where relevant. The data included in the report relates to content from users of Spotify’s intermediary services (for example, podcasts uploaded to Spotify for Creators, audiobooks, and playlist titles and artwork). It does not cover business-to-business licensed content or Spotify-produced content made available on Spotify Main, which are subject to different legal frameworks. Where users submit reports concerning licensed content, those reports are processed, but enforcement actions relating to licensed catalogue content are not included in the quantitative reporting documents.
This introduction is published together with the machine-readable transparency reporting templates required under the Implementing Regulation. For clarity:
- This introduction applies across the services covered by this report, unless stated otherwise, and provides context regarding Spotify’s approach to content moderation, relevant processes, and the interpretation of the reported information; and
- The accompanying documents contain the required quantitative and qualitative data for each of the services listed above.
All median time indicators reported in the quantitative templates are expressed in hours, in accordance with Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2835.
3. Content moderation at Spotify
Platform Rules, applicable law and content actions
Spotify’s Platform Rules describe what content is not permitted on its services. Where content violates the Platform Rules, Spotify may take action regardless of whether the content is illegal under applicable law.
Spotify may take various content actions when content violates the Platform Rules or applicable laws. These include removing content, restricting its discoverability or reach, restricting its ability to be monetised, applying content advisory labels, and restricting content in a specific country or region.
In determining the appropriate action, Spotify considers several factors, including the context in which the content appears, and/or the severity and/or frequency of violations.
Repeated and/or egregious violations of the Platform Rules may result in an account being terminated. Note that this may include all related and affiliated Spotify accounts a creator may hold.
There may be a greater threat of harmful content online during periods of heightened risk, such as violent conflict or mass-casualty events. In response, Spotify may take additional steps during such events, like highlighting timely and trusted resources. For more information, please see our Safety & Privacy Centre.
Content moderation teams
Spotify’s content moderation operations are supported by globally distributed teams, providing continuous, 24-hour coverage every day of the week. Given the importance of context in content assessment, Spotify builds moderation teams with a range of language capabilities and expertise to understand local cultural contexts.
Content moderation teams receive extensive training to ensure a deep understanding of Spotify’s Platform Rules and re-train to stay ahead of evolving trends and behaviours. We regularly perform quality assessments of moderation decisions and have processes in place for reviewers to ask questions, provide feedback, or flag new trends or issues.
As automated detection technologies continue to develop, Spotify will continue to evaluate the appropriate balance between automation and human oversight. While certain high-confidence scenarios may support automated enforcement, human review remains an important safeguard to ensure contextual accuracy and proportionality.
4. Reporting content
Anyone with a valid email address may submit a report of content they believe violates Spotify’s Platform Rules using Spotify’s secure reporting form, including individuals who do not have a Spotify account.
Spotify also provides a dedicated illegal content reporting form for notices of allegedly illegal content under applicable law, including the DSA. Unless the content is reported for intellectual property reasons, content reported through this form is also assessed for violations of Spotify’s Platform Rules.
Spotify may take measures to address misuse of its reporting mechanisms, including restricting the ability to submit reports in cases of repeated or manifestly unfounded submissions. Separately, repeated violations of the Spotify Terms of Use, including the Platform Rules and the Intellectual Property Policy, may result in account-level enforcement actions, including suspension or termination.
If the same piece of content is reported multiple times, and action is taken following the first report, subsequent notices regarding that content will be handled automatically and recorded with a handling time of zero minutes.
Notices submitted by Trusted Flaggers are processed with priority, in accordance with the requirements of the DSA. Details about orders issued by EU Member State authorities pursuant to Articles 9 or 10 of the DSA can be found in section 5 of this document titled “Orders received from EU Member State authorities.”
5. Orders received from EU Member State authorities
All orders are processed in accordance with applicable legal requirements. Information on the number of orders received, the categories of illegal content concerned, and median response times is set out in the accompanying quantitative disclosures. Additional information for EU authorities is available in Spotify’s Safety & Privacy Centre.
6. Proactive detection and automated means
In addition to responding to notices and valid legal orders, Spotify leverages proactive measures to help identify and take proportionate action against violative content on its services. These proactive measures include a combination of human review and automated tools. Spotify also deploys automated detection tools to assist in identifying potentially violative content, including keyword-based monitoring and automated text, video, and image analysis. Information on Spotify’s own-initiative measures and automated means is provided in the accompanying quantitative and qualitative disclosures.
7. Appeals
Spotify provides an internal complaints mechanism that allows individuals in the EU to appeal content moderation decisions, in accordance with the DSA. Appeals may concern moderation actions taken in response to notices, measures taken on Spotify’s own initiative, or other eligible moderation actions.
Appeals are reviewed in a timely and impartial manner. Following review, Spotify may uphold the original decision or reverse it, in whole or in part.
Information on appeals can be found in the accompanying quantitative disclosures.
8. Conclusion
This transparency report sets out information on Spotify’s content moderation systems, enforcement measures, and safeguards as applied to its intermediary services in the European Union, in accordance with the DSA. It is intended to provide clear insight into how Spotify implements its obligations under the DSA across the reporting period.
Spotify upholds the fundamental importance of artistic and creative expression across music, podcasts, and audiobooks when applying its content moderation processes. Decisions are guided both by Spotify’s Platform Rules and applicable law, and reflect an intention to be consistent, proportionate, and transparent.
The quantitative and qualitative disclosures included in this report, including information on notices, enforcement actions, orders from authorities, and appeals, are intended to support transparency and accountability.