In the autumn, Spotify received an agreement with RTÜK that is valid for ten years, but it also means restrictions on which podcasts and songs may be available on the streaming service.
"Now Spotify must follow the broadcasting principles contained in Law 6112. If they do not, RTÜK will act in the required manner," Ebubekir Şahin, head of RTÜK, told the pro-government newspaper Sabah earlier in May.
According to the Swedish industry magazine Musikindustrin, the ban seems to be mainly about content that is critical of the country's management.
But according to the newspaper Sabah, this also applies to music and podcasts that are considered to question Islam or support the terrorist-branded Gülen movement in Turkey.
"Spotify is a lightweight"
As examples of blasphemous material, Sabah mentions playlists with titles such as "Songs that Mary listened to and therefore missed when God proclaimed the commandment of forbidden fruit" and "Songs that the Prophet Ali listened to when he threw the scissors".
The actual content of the playlists with the blasphemous names, however, is uncontroversial Turkish pop.
- Cyber experts in Turkey have previously said that Turkey uses Spotify as a test rabbit for the new internet laws that were introduced last year, because Spotify is a lightweight compared to the American tech giants, says SVT's Turkey correspondent Tomas Thorén, and continues:
- It has been speculated whether government-critical artists and podcasts may be subjected to censorship on Spotify, but so far it has not happened as far as I know.
Kulturnyheterna has been in contact with Spotify who does not want to comment.