As a leading platform for creative content and expression, our users are able to enjoy music, spoken word, videos and podcasts ("Content") from a range of creators. That variety of Content also creates a rich space for advertisers to tell their own stories.

We have a range of tools to help advertisers make the most of this opportunity and execute targeted marketing campaigns with Spotify Advertising. One of these tools is our commitment to brand safety. We strive to ensure advertisers feel comfortable with the environment through which their message is communicated.

Here are some of the ways in which we work to protect brands that use Spotify Advertising.

We believe in everyone's right to share their voice. However, we don't support content that violates our User Guidelines and Platform Rules. More information can be found in this article.

Creators who repeatedly violate our policies risk losing access to our platform and services offered through Spotify. We also have guidelines on the types of advertising that we don't accept, which can be found in our Advertising Editorial Policies.

We want to help advertisers trust the content and environment in which they place their ads, so we created a monetization floor which describes the types of content that are not eligible for any advertising support. Through our internal expertise and external guidance (including the Global Alliance for Responsible Media), we regularly review and refresh the floor in accordance with changing needs and expectations within the industry.

Adult & Explicit Sexual Content to include:

• Explicit or gratuitous depiction of sexual acts, and/or display of genitals, real or animated

Arms & Ammunition to include:

• Promotion and advocacy of Sales of illegal arms, rifles, and handguns
• Instructive content on how to obtain, make, distribute, or use illegal arms
• Glamorization of illegal arms for the purpose of harm to others
• Use of illegal arms in unregulated environments

Crime & Harmful acts to individuals and Society, Human Right Violations to include:

• Graphic promotion, advocacy, and depiction of willful harm and actual unlawful criminal activity
• Explicit violations/demeaning offenses of Human Rights (e.g. human trafficking, slavery, self-harm, animal cruelty etc.)
• Harassment or bullying of individuals and groups

Death, Injury or Military Conflict to include:

• Promotion, incitement or advocacy of violence, death or injury
• Murder or willful bodily harm to others
• Graphic depictions of willful harm to others
• Incendiary content provoking, enticing, or evoking military aggression
• Live action footage/photos/audio of military actions and genocide or other war crimes

Online piracy to include:

• Pirating, copyright infringement, and counterfeiting

Hate speech & acts of aggression to include:

• Behavior or content that incites hatred, promotes violence, vilifies, or dehumanizes groups or individuals based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ability, nationality, religion, caste, victims and survivors of violent acts and their kin, immigration status, or serious disease sufferers

Obscenity and Profanity to include:

• Excessive use of profane language or gestures and other repulsive actions that shock, offend, or insult.

Illegal Drugs/Tobacco/e-cigarettes/Vaping/Alcohol to include:

• Promotion or sale of illegal drug use – including abuse of prescription drugs.
• Promotion and advocacy of tobacco, e-cigarette (vaping), alcohol use by minors

Spam or Harmful Content to include:

• Malware/Phishing

Terrorism to include:

• Promotion and advocacy of graphic terrorist activity involving defamation, physical and/or emotional harm of individuals, communities, and society

Debated Sensitive Social Issue to include:

• Insensitive, irresponsible and harmful treatment of debated social issues and related acts that demean a particular group or incite greater conflict.

It’s important that advertisers and creators familiarize themselves with the monetization floor and keep up to date on its latest iteration.

Targeting campaigns appropriately helps advertisers communicate their messaging to relevant audiences. We offer a variety of parameters across our channels to help advertisers achieve the degree of targeting that suits them. These may include:

• Age
• Gender
• Location
• Platform
• Daypart
• Language
• Playlist
• Genre

We also offer exclusion targeting to remove certain podcast content from the scope of marketing plans (currently US only).

How we work with advertisers that have concerns with their ad placement

We investigate and take action: We encourage advertisers who have concerns over the placement of their ads to contact us. Those advertisers who place adverts via Spotify Ad Studio should contact Ad Studio Support -- all other advertisers should contact their Spotify sales representative. We'll take all reasonable steps to resolve any ad takedown requests promptly, but typically within 2 business days.

We want our users to enjoy Spotify in a safe environment that reflects our values. With that in mind, we've established a few ground rules for advertisers to follow when using our advertising platform to promote their messages.

Our policies are designed with user safety in mind and apply to creative content, content on any clickthrough URLs when applicable, and advertiser identity. The lists of ad categories with restrictions and the examples within each section below are for illustrative purposes and are not exhaustive. In some cases, advertising may also be subject to certain additional restrictions (e.g. any country-specific regulations) not set forth here.

This Help Center is not intended as legal advice. These guidelines are a general statement of Spotify’s advertising standards and are not intended to be comprehensive. We encourage each advertiser and its agency to consult with legal counsel before seeking to place any advertising on the Spotify service.

In addition to the below policies and our Platform Rules, advertisers are responsible for ensuring that any ads they seek to place on the Spotify service comply with all applicable laws, regulations, and industry codes and satisfy our Editorial Policies. Advertisers must also hold, and maintain the active status of, all necessary licenses and registrations.

We reserve the right to reject or remove any ad for any reason. This includes ads that negatively affect our relationship with our partners or that promote content that goes against our interests. We also reserve the right to request modifications to any ad and to require factual substantiation for any claim. These rules are subject to change at any time.

Spotify is home to a diverse community of users and creators. As such, we don’t allow advertisers to use our advertising products to:

• Promote, incite, or glorify violence
• Harass, bully or incite hatred against any individual or group
• Promote stereotypes or negatively portray or attack an individual or group on the basis of race, religion, gender identity or expression, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, veteran status, age, disability or other characteristics associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization
• Engage in or promote any other behavior that may place people at risk of harm

We don’t allow ads containing, depicting, or promoting content that is inappropriate for our advertising platform including:

• Harmful or unlawful acts
• Graphic violence or depictions of serious bodily harm
• Gruesome audio or imagery
• Gratuitous use of profanity

We don’t allow ads containing or promoting sexually explicit material, including:

• Pornography or visual depictions of genitalia
• Sexual solicitation

To promote a positive user experience, we require that advertisers adhere to the following editorial guidelines:

Text:

• Use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation
• Avoid excessive or unnecessary punctuation and capitalization

Branding and clarity:

• Clearly reflect and state the brand, advertiser name, or identity
• Avoid assets or text that are unclear or incomprehensible
• Do not imply an endorsement or relationship with any brand, label, artist, album, or track, unless you’ve independently obtained the rights to do so
• Do not use Spotify's trademarks, trade names, brand features, or other intellectual property without Spotify’s prior written approval

Media:

• Ads must follow our Audio and/or Video Ad Specs and Requirements
• Visual assets should be suitable for all targeted users
• Avoid repetitive, gimmicky, or otherwise low quality media assets
• Media assets should not mimic the Spotify interface or otherwise mislead or trick users into interacting with an ad

Spotify supports advertising initiatives that result in better experiences for our users and community. Learn more about one of these initiatives by the Coalition for Better Ads here.

We don’t allow ads promoting dangerous products, including:

• Firearms
• Dangerous weapons, such as knives that are designed to injure an opponent
• Explosives and instructional content about building explosives
• Cigarettes, tobacco products, and related accessories
• Nicotine products not designed to aid in smoking cessation
• Vaporizers and related accessories
• Recreational drugs and related accessories

We don’t allow ads that promote any illegal conduct, product, enterprise or service or intend to deceive users through exclusion of important information or misrepresentation of a product, service, or advertiser identity.

The following examples reflect prohibited advertising content:

• False or misleading representations (of identity, business models, etc.)
• “Get rich quick” schemes
• Manipulated and synthetic media that causes harm
• Deceptive or fraudulent offers
• Counterfeit or fake products
• Cloaking, malware, or phishing
• Otherwise enabling illegal, deceptive or dishonest behavior

We restrict the promotion of financial products and services on our platform. We may prohibit or restrict certain financial products or services beyond what local regulations require.

We don’t allow the promotion of the following financial products:

• High APR personal loans (e.g., payday loans)
• Initial coin offerings (ICOs) and binary options
• Decentralized finance (DeFi) trading protocols
• Credit cards with staking requirements

Below are examples of financial products and services that we may permit in certain instances:

• Cryptocurrency wallets, platforms and exchanges
• Credit cards without staking requirements
• Credit products and services (e.g., credit cards, HELOCs, etc.)
• Loan products and services (e.g., mortgages, car loans, etc.)
• Auto, medical, life or other insurance products and services

At this time, we only allow cryptocurrency advertisements through Direct sales. To learn more about eligibility and restrictions for ads promoting financial products and services, please contact Spotify Ad Studio Support if placing ads via Ad Studio and all other advertisers should contact your Spotify sales representative.

We restrict the promotion of gambling and gambling-related ads on our platform.

Below are examples of gambling-related ad content that we may permit in certain instances:

• Brick-and-mortar casinos
• Online casinos and social casino games
• Sports betting, daily fantasy sports, and lotteries
• Products or services where users can play games of chance to win money or prizes with real world value
• Other websites or services facilitating or leading to online gambling content, including affiliates, aggregators, and comparison sites

To learn more about eligibility and restrictions for ads promoting gambling and games, please contact Spotify Ad Studio Support if placing ads via Ad Studio and all other advertisers should contact your Spotify sales representative.

We restrict the promotion of alcohol, alcohol surrogates, and alcohol-related products.

Alcohol ads cannot:

• Target or appeal to users under the applicable legal drinking age based on where ads are targeted
• Depict irresponsible or underage drinking
• Imply that drinking alcohol can improve social, sexual, professional, intellectual, or athletic standing
• Imply that drinking can treat health issues or offer therapeutic benefits
• Portray excessive or irresponsible drinking, including consuming alcohol in conjunction with operating a vehicle or other heavy machinery

To learn more about restrictions for alcohol ads, please contact Spotify Ad Studio Support if placing ads via Ad Studio and all other advertisers should contact your Spotify sales representative.

At this time, we only permit advertisers to promote political ads in the United States and India. In order for an account to be eligible, the account holder must complete an advertiser identity verification process.

Below are examples of political ad content that we may permit in certain instances:

• Ads sponsored by candidates, political parties, political committees, any entity registered or reporting under any federal, state or local campaign finance law, or others sponsoring ads on behalf of any of the above-listed categories
• Ads that feature a candidate for elected office or current elected officeholder
• Ads that feature a ballot measure, proposition, or initiative

To learn more about eligibility and restrictions for political ads, please contact your Spotify sales representative.

Some healthcare ads on our platform may be restricted based on the advertiser, the product or service being promoted, and/or the region they target. Other healthcare products and services may not be permitted under any circumstances.

Below are examples of healthcare-related ad content that we may permit in certain instances:

• Online pharmacies
• Offline brick-and-mortar pharmacies
• Prescription pharmaceutical products
• Over-the-counter medication and supplements
• Pharmaceutical manufacturers
• Medical devices
• Birth control products and contraceptives
• Clinical trial recruitment
• Medical and cosmetic services

To learn more about eligibility and restrictions for healthcare ads, please contact Spotify Ad Studio Support if placing ads via Ad Studio and all other advertisers should contact your Spotify sales representative.