Spotify, Stop Trying to Become a Social Media App

Spotify’s decision to introduce comment sections under podcasts should surprise no one. For years now, apps have been ripping off each other’s most popular features. Where once apps adhered to their respective “things,” today they want to do it all: You can post Stories on YouTube, use AI search tools on Instagram, and shop for clothing on TikTok. And, as of last week, you can experience the thrill of seeing what random strangers think about your favorite podcasts on Spotify.

In 2020, Spotify flirted with social tools, such as a Stories-esque feature for artists and a collaborative playlist feature for users. The following year, Spotify began allowing creators to add interactive Q and As as well as polls to their podcasts, and began providing the option to select certain answers for public view.

Spotify’s new comment section feature requires podcast publishers to review each remark submitted and select those they want to make public. But Spotify ultimately plans to implement an option for comments to default to public (and isn’t ruling out eventually extending this feature to music) so long as they meet content guidelines. (Spotify did not specify what its content guidelines are.)

This suggests that Spotify wants to be more like YouTube, which, since the aughts, has allowed largely unregulated comment sections to live below its videos.

YouTube comments, of course, are notorious for being dicey. For almost two decades, the platform has scrambled to tame its users’ feedback, which, in many cases, amounts to anonymous bullying. (The comments beneath Rebecca Black’s “Friday” video are just one example of out-of-control online harassment.) Too many YouTube commenters have also exhibited sinister, predatory behavior; in 2019, for instance, YouTube temporarily disabled comments on videos that feature children in an attempt to mitigate the platform’s apparent pedophilia problem.

Considering the fact that American political commentary occupies a considerable amount of space on Spotify’s global charts—Ben Shapiro, Candace Owens, Ezra Klein, Jon Stewart, and Tucker Carlson host some of its most listened-to shows—the platform’s comment sections could very well become another outlet for rage.

Spotify is aware of such risks. In 2020, Joe Rogan—whose podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, holds the number one spot on the platform’s charts—asked Spotify to enable comments on his episodes, but the company declined, citing in part the potential for commenters to abuse the feature.

Creators who enable comments will also bear the responsibility of reviewing each one. A spokesperson for Spotify stressed to WIRED the “creator-controlled” nature of the update, saying that the company has “consistently heard that creators love having the control in their hands.”

However, this setup might deter some creators from opting in. A spokesperson for the Daily Wire, the conservative media outlet that produces The Ben Shapiro Show (Spotify’s 10th most popular podcast) tells WIRED it does not plan to make comments public on Spotify.

“We love robust debate in the comments,” the Daily Wire spokesperson says. But, she adds, moderating the forecasted volume of comments might prove to be nearly impossible. Ben Shapiro’s YouTube channel receives 3,700 comments daily, according to the spokesperson. “Assuming it would take about 30 seconds to review each one [on Spotify], it would take 30 hours a day—more than three full-time positions—to moderate,” she says. “I can’t imagine who would take on this expensive burden.”