Turkish competition authorities have launched an investigation into streaming service Spotify.
Officially, the investigation is supposed to determine whether the Swedish company unfairly favoured certain artists, but the announcement comes just as a Turkish government official has criticised Spotify’s “provocative” playlists.
According to the Turkish Competition Authority’s statement, the streaming service is suspected of using strategies that have had “anti-competitive effects in the music industry.” Spotify is said to have given greater visibility to certain artists and also used unfair practices in the distribution of copyrights.
The announcement of the investigation, and especially its timing, raises questions. Turkey’s Deputy Minister of Culture, Batuhan Mumcu, had already called for legal action against Spotify on Friday for very different reasons. The deputy minister stated on the social networking site X that the company refuses to remove playlists with offensive content.
“The content that targets our religious and national values and offends the beliefs of our society will not be corrected,” he writes. He also criticises playlists “that do not take into account our religious sensitivities regarding our prophet Mohammed.” Some “morally unacceptable” playlists, he says, also target Emine Erdogan, the wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Spotify, which has been active in Turkey since 2013, said in a response that it complies with the law. The company stressed that it will cooperate with the investigation.
