Feedback on Recommendations for Ukrainian Users

[avokazi]

Dear Spotify Team,

I hope this message finds you well. My name is Oksana, and I am writing to you as a Spotify user from Ukraine.

I want to express my deep concern and frustration regarding the continuous appearance of russian music in my recommendations. As someone who has intentionally avoided russian content due to the ongoing war and its devastating impact on Ukraine, seeing this music in my feed feels deeply distressing and insensitive.

Like many other Ukrainian users, I have seen countless appeals to your team to address this issue. Yet, it continues to be a problem. Given the context of the war, the appearance of russian music in our personalized playlists and recommendations is more than a simple oversight; it feels like an unnecessary reminder of a country that is actively harming us.

I urge you to listen to the voices of your Ukrainian users and take concrete steps to prevent this from happening. Whether it’s through a regional filter, improved algorithms, or a dedicated option for Ukrainian users to exclude specific content, we need Spotify to recognize the emotional toll that such recommendations can take.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I truly hope that you will take action to better support and respect your Ukrainian audience.

Sincerely,

Oksana

[StellarVoyager]

I'd like to second this. I wrote to Spotify support almost 3 years ago now and was told there is nothing they can do. Sounds like I'm not the only one with this issue and I'm disappointed to see zero effort has been made in three years. I used to look forward to my Discover Weekly and now I am just trashing half of the playlist because it's all russian, and the rest that are not in russian, upon closer examination, are usually by russian artists/DJs. Why is Spotify so hellbent on tricking me into supporting the russian war machine?