Add "remove video content" option to Spotify Family

[lentil_maps]

Please add an option to "remove video content" to Spotify Family! Since video podcasts were added, my children now watch videos on Spotify instead of listening to music.  I had given them unlimited access to Spotify (unlike other apps) because it was only used for music.  

All you'd have to do is add another toggle for "remove video content" next to "Remove explicit content".

Spotify Kids is not an option for us.  My children are teens and tweens.  And because they're teens and tweens, they have a very difficult time turning off compelling video content (just like some adults).  If Spotify becomes just another screen to stare at, I'm not sure we want to keep our Family membership.

[golnja]

Spotify has developed from a pure music platform into a diverse content service without many parents noticing this change. The boundaries between music, videos and podcasts are becoming blurred - and this is precisely where a problem arises: children and young people, who often still lack media maturity, can easily be drawn by the platform into content that parents would never have consciously approved.

As a company that attaches great importance to social responsibility in other areas, Spotify must not ignore this when it comes to children's media use. Transparency about available content and clear control options for parents would be an important step towards giving families back control. Parents should be able to decide what content their children watch and listen to - not the algorithm.

Spotify has the opportunity here to position itself as a platform that not only preaches values, but also actively protects them. By focusing on transparency and parental control, Spotify could not only support families, but also become a role model for other digital platforms. Responsibility does not end with the selection of playlists - it begins where users place their trust in the platform.

[Kris_81]

@Golnja, 

I think there are three important points in response to your comments

1. "Spotify has developed from a pure music platform into a diverse content service without many parents noticing this change".

This isn't about boundaries between media types becoming blurred. It's about companies (in this case, Spotify), understanding what addicts and sticks and pushing it. 

2. "As a company that attaches great importance to social responsibility in other areas"

Is this really true? Spotify seems to have a very lax approach to policing/stopping the wave of AI-generated slop. It doesn't really feel like it's good for artists or listeners these days.

3. "Spotify has the opportunity here to position itself as a platform that not only preaches values, but also actively protects them."
Much too late for this.  It's nuts to see how much support for this idea there is and how many comments there are, and yet there is barely any response. 

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for change, especially given that video and podcasts have apparently been a strong driver of growth (https://www.pymnts.com/earnings/2024/spotify-ceo-upping-user-engagement-and-expanding-ai-use-paid-of...). There would be no issues here if they did one of two things:
- Allowed parents to control access to such content.

- Ensured content being uploaded as podcasts actually met some form of criteria. 

I'm sure the Engineers/Devs can chime in here, but I'm pretty sure the first point above wouldn't be difficult to implement. This isn't about effort or cost being prohibitive factors. 

Anyhow, I cancelled my family subscription a while back and moved to Apple One (multiple services for just a couple of dollars more than I was paying Spotify for one) and continue to inform parents around me about the potential risks of allowing their kids access to Spotify. It's incredible how few people are aware of this and how many people thought Spotify was one of the good apps that they didn't need to worry about. 

[Rekka2]

Thanks for your thoughtful response, I agree 100%. The irony is I still have customer services trying to ‘help’ with this issue when fundamentally there is no current way to fix it. I’m going to try and get some national press on this to highlight the issue in the U.K.

[golnja]

I actually think that a big part of the problem is that many parents here (in my case Germany) still assume that Spotify, unlike other platforms, is still safe for children and young people to use.
While TikTok and X in particular get negative press in Germany, you only hear about Spotify when it comes to the poor compensation of artists.
But when it comes to the influence or distraction of children and young people, you hardly hear anything about it in the media. The fact that Spotify is a “Swedish” company certainly reassures quite a few people here in Europe.
Perhaps another reason is that many parents who were the first Spotify users because of their age got to know Spotify as a pure music platform and continue to use the app in exactly the same way, as their user habits have hardly changed.
As knowledge of the extended possibilities of the platform is less widespread than the USP of Spotify, it is often passed on to the children relatively uncritically.
In Australia, for example, new laws have been passed regarding social media and minors and as far as I know (but I'm not sure as I haven't followed the debate in Australia) Spotify would not be affected by this as things stand.

[Rekka2]

I thinks that’s right and was exactly my experience. I had no idea it had incorporated videos. When I saw they had audio books I thought it might be a good thing, then discovered there are no controls to block explicit or disturbing content. Under the umbrella of ‘family’ I’m sure this must be illegal in some way.

[lyager]

We have screentime on our kids IOS devices - but allowing them to listen to Spotify to calm down in the evening. Only too late did we find out that they were not listening to music but watching video podcasts and other videos.

[edhenry]

My kids were able to access p0rn on this platform. We are actively migrating platforms and will be canceling our account. 👎

[dtasj]

After waiting almost a year with no action on this thread, I've given up and cancelled my subscription.  Switched to Tidal and blocked spotify on all my kids devices.  Good riddance.  I feel like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.

[Rekka2]

I hope it's going well on Tidal. I'm looking at alternatives, too.

[Kiofttman]

Please make this option available.