As Spotify deals with harmful content on its service, the audio-streaming service decided to acquire Ireland-based content moderation tech company Kinzen, as per Reuters.
Following the backlash over "The Joe Rogan Experience" earlier this year, where the podcaster was said to spread misinformation about COVID-19, Spotify announced on Wednesday that it acquired a tech company to help it detect harmful content.
This picture taken in Toulouse, southwestern France, on January 31, 2022 shows a smartphone displaying the Joe Rogan podcast and a screen displaying the Spotify's logo. - Caught in a disinformation maelstrom, Spotify announces it will guide listeners of Covid-19 podcasts to established facts about the pandemic. This comes after artists pulled their songs in protest at the platform given on Spotify to podcaster Joe Rogan, accused of spreading damaging myths about the pandemic.
Kinzen Will Help Spotify Deliver a Safe, Enjoyable Experience to Users
Spotify decided to acquire Kinzen to help the audio-streaming service address harmful content.
Since 2020, Kinzen has been working with Spotify, highlighting the "integrity of election-related content around the world," as per Engadget.
Kinzen's coverage has widened since it initially started. Now, the company also targets misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech.
The said content moderation tech company utilizes both machine learning and human expertise. The company works on analyzing possibly harmful content across multiple languages. In addition, Kinzen also analyzes hate speeches.
According to Spotify, Kinzen will "help us more effectively deliver a safe, enjoyable experience on our platform around the world."
Moreover, the audio-streaming service added that the technology of Kinzen is particularly appropriate to podcasts and other audio formats.
The technology of Kinzen will be utilized by Spotify to better moderate podcasts and other audio.
According to The Verge, Kinzen's site noted that its technology has the ability to analyze audio content in multiple languages. To figure out if certain contents are harmful, the company utilizes data from the internet and human experts.
Spotify noted that its acquisition of Kinzen will help the service give users a better experience as it highlights user-generated podcasts and audiobooks, which could possibly have misinformation content.
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Spotify Has Faced Backlash Over COVID-19 Misinformation in Podcast
Kinzen was established in 2017. It was founded by Áine Kerr, Mark Little, and Paul Watson.
According to the company's site, it aims to protect public conversations from dangerous misinformation and harmful content.
Spotify faced backlash earlier this year when its top podcaster, Joe Rogan, was found to be spreading COVID-19 vaccine-related misinformation on his show.
The backlash led to a PR nightmare for Spotify. As a result of the incident, 270 physicians and scientists signed an open letter to the audio-streaming service.
The physicians and scientists are demanding that Spotify should come up with misinformation policies in response to what happened.
The incident also resulted in the hashtag #deletespotify to trend. Moreover, as a sign of protest, high-profile artists like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pulled their music from Spotify.
As a response, Spotify decided to include a content advisory to podcast episodes weeks later. This included discussions about COVID-19. The audio-streaming service also made its content guidelines public.
Now that Spotify has acquired Kinzen, the company should be able to moderate the contents that it makes available to listeners.
According to Dustee Jenkins, Spotify's global head of public affairs, acquiring Kinzen is a significant step to help improve the company's ability to "detect and address harmful content, and importantly, in a way that better considers local context."
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