There are plenty of controversies surrounding Spotify, but what really made me cancel my subscription was the fact that they ran recruitment ads for ICE. Boycott Spotify!
this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2026
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Hence the "ran" in the title. Ran is past tense. I didn't say they were running ads now.
Other issue: I'm not american. Why should I care what ads you guys get? I also have used cracked apps for ages and don't get ads if I can help it.
Even though you're not American you must have heard about ICE's crimes. You really want your money going to a company that ran ads for them?
No ethical consumption under capitalism. If I boycott everything I disagree with, there's nothing left.
You're also assuming they have any other interest other than money. It's a capitalist business, all it cares about is money so of course they will give ad space to anyone they feel they can get away with.
Fuck off with that "no ethical consumption" bullshit
It's a trite line trotted out by children who want to pick and choose their ethics when it suits them
The way "no ethical consumption under capitalism" is meant to be used is to remind us that: 1, we shouldn't let perfection be the enemy of good (I.e. still boycott the worst people) and 2. that our long-term goal should still stay focused on replacing capitalism entirely. It is not meant to be used to condone abdicating our moral responsibilities entirely.
Participating in unavoidable harms because you need to survive is different from knowingly, willfully choosing the greater harm when you could opt out.
I've been noticing these statements that are generally true, but the reason they're being used is to serve some other agenda. For example, "all lives matter." Like, yeah, absolutely that's true. However the reason why people say that is to undermine the message of black lives matter. The statements are fine in a vacuum, but they're not said in a vacuum.
When someone says "there is no ethical consumption under capitalism" this might be a true statement, honestly I don't know enough about the topic. However, when discussing what to and what not to boycott, this becomes a lesser of 2 evils thing. "For every device you buy, a slave is involved with its production." I was quite surprised to find that there are no "fair-trade" electronics. So, just buy whatever electronics, no? Well sure, but there are still things you can do to decrease the number of slaves you 'employ' (what's the right word for that?). This is by primarily not buying new devices all the time. A bit of a lesser of two evils situation.
Another one is coffee beans. Sure, those who harvest fair trade coffee beans are probably still underpaid, but they're at least not literal slaves.
So, is there ethical consumption under capitalism? No, not really. The show "The Good Place" talks about this, although you have to get to the finale to see it discussed (would recommend tho). But is there slightly more ethical consumption under capitalism? Absolutely.
Well then, let's not let them get away with it. Vote with your wallet. Or not, if ICE murdering citizens in the street doesn't bother you that much.
doesn't this count as voting with my wallet enough?
So you hate waffles?
I don't know why you're so hung up on ads. The issue at hand is that Spotify assisted ICE for a year.