Spotify pulls out of Russia amid free speech censorship

• Spotify is completely shutting down its services in Russia.
• The streaming platform cited new laws that clamp down on free speech as the reason behind its move.
• Spotify will fully pull the plug on its services in the country by April.

The ongoing military conflict in Ukraine has led to the shutting down of the premium service in Russia. The free version of the platform is going to be unavailable in the country.

Following the enactment of new legislation that restricts free speech, the company will stop offering its free, ad-supported service in Russia. A new law signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin criminalizes any news content about the war in Ukraine.

While it is best known for being one of the best music streaming services, it also distributes political content through its podcasts service.

The company said in a statement that it is critically important to try and keep the service operational in Russia.

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The company decided to suspend its services for Russian users. The shutdown will start in April.

After carefully considering our options and the current circumstances, we have decided to suspend our service in Russia.

Tech giants took a similar move in response to the invasion of Ukraine. It's part of a broader sanction by the West, with technology companies banning Russia from their services.

Russia retaliated by banning most of Meta's services and blocking access to Google News in the country.