The move came after Spotify faced severe backlash earlier this year for spreading Covid-19 misinformation in one of its shows.
Spotify, a Swedish multinational audio streaming platform, has acquired Dublin-based Kinzen to aid in delivering safe content on the podcast platform.
“The combination of tools and expert insights is Kinzen’s unique strength that we see as essential to identifying emerging abuse trends in markets and moderating potentially dangerous content at scale,” said Sarah Hoyle, Spotify’s Head of Trust and Safety.
“This expansion of our team, combined with the launch of our Safety Advisory Council, demonstrates the proactive approach we’re taking in this important space,” she added.
Spotify and Kinzen have been working together since 2020. Kinzen’s technology is a mix of machine learning and human expertise that is “backed by analysis from leading local academics and journalists—to analyze potential harmful content and hate speech in multiple languages and countries,” the Sewdish company said, without disclosing any terms of the deal.
According to reports, the move came after Spotify faced severe backlash earlier this year after the podcaster at The Joe Rogan Experience was found spreading misinformation about Covid-19. Several medical professionals then wrote an open letter to the streaming giant to take action against the show, while musicians Neil Young and Joni Mitchell even pulled out their music libraries from the platform. Rogan later apologised to the streaming giant.
