Spotify has this week unveiled its newly formed Spotify Safety Advisory Council, in a continuation of its efforts to be more transparent about safety measures.
According to the platform, the Spotify Safety Advisory Council is ‘the first safety-focused council of its type at any major audio company.’ The council’s founding members consist of individuals and organisations from around the world, all of whom have deep expertise in areas relating to online safety. Members will advise Spotify teams on policy and safety-feature development, and will also provide guidance on equity, impact, and academic research. Their input will broadly inform how Spotify shape high-level policies and internal processes, with the company confirming in its announcement that ‘Council members will not make enforcement decisions about specific content or creators.’
The formation of the Safety Advisory Council follows on from other recent steps Spotify has made with regards to safety on the platform. In January, the company published platform rules and took measures to ensure they were being followed, while May saw the onboarding of a number of new ‘trust and safety’ hires.
Announcing the founding partners and members of the Safety Advisory Council, a statement from Spotify said: ‘While Spotify has been seeking feedback from many of these founding members for years, we’re excited to further expand and be more transparent about our safety partnerships. As our product continues to grow and evolve, council membership will grow and evolve along with it. In the months ahead, we will work closely with founding members to expand the council, with the goal of broadening regional and linguistic representation as well as adding additional experts in the equity and impact space.’
The Spotify Safety Advisory Council founding members include:
Dangerous Speech Project, represented by Professor Susan Benesch and Tonei Glavinic
Center for Democracy and Technology, represented by Emma Llansó
Professor Danielle Citron
Dr. Mary Anne Franks
Alex Holmes
Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), represented by Henry Tuck and Milo Comerford
Dr. Jonas Kaiser
Kinzen, represented by Founders Mark Little and Áine Kerr
Dr. Ronaldo Lemos
Dr. Christer Mattsson
Dr. Tanu Mitra
Desmond Upton Patton, PhD, MSW
Megan Phelps-Roper
Find out more about the Spotify Safety Advisory Council.
