Spotify is threatening to pull out of Turkey in a row over playlists that mock President Erdogan’s wife and, in particular, her claimed lavish spending and gold toilet.
Batuhan Mumcu, the deputy minister of culture and tourism, accused the streaming platform of hosting “content that targets our religious and national values and insults the beliefs of our society”. In particular, he added, it was “insidious and provocative” playlists that target Erdogan’s wife, Emine, that were “incompatible with the cultural and moral values of our nation, and targets the unity and solidarity of our society”.
Particularly provocative was the “Emine Ergodan hotgirl playlist”, “Songs Emine Erdogan listened to when her golden faucet broke” and “The songs Emine Erdogan listens to while cleaning the palace”.
The Erdogans were accused in 2015 of having a golden toilet in their presidential palace, a sprawling complex of 1,000 rooms in Ankara that cost £400 million to build. The couple have denied the claims and the president said he would resign if a golden toilet was ever found. He also threatened to sue the opposition leader who first made the claim, which was later retracted.
The Turkish government has demanded that the Swedish streaming company opens a physical office in the country and its competition authority has opened an investigation into whether Spotify engaged in anti-competitive practices.
Spotify has now upped the ante, threatening to pull its services from the country. Sources at the company told The Times that it was not prepared for its users to be censored and while it was working to co-operate with Turkish authorities, it was evaluating all scenarios, including ”pausing its operations in the market or exiting Turkey altogether”.
Ankara’s competition investigation into Spotify, which was announced last week, centres on whether the company gave more visibility to some artists and engaged in unfair practices in the distribution of royalties.
Mumcu also accused Spotify last month of not supporting local music, thought to be Turkish folk or Arabesque. He posted on X: “Despite international digital platforms like Spotify having a significant user base in the Turkish market, they have neither established a local representation nor taken responsibility for supporting local music culture.
“Aside from the failure to fulfill tax obligations, prioritising sensation over quality in content algorithms — promoting content that encourages slang, violence, and the use of prohibited substances in playlists — is an unacceptable choice.”
However, last week Ifod, the Turkish freedom of expression organisation, said that music from the left-wing folk band Grup Yorum has been blocked on Spotify after an order from the government.
Spotify said it complied with “all applicable laws” and would co-operate with the investigation although it lacked “details on the inspection’s scope or focus”.
Erdogan and his wife in 2018
MEHDI TAAMALLAH/NURPHOTO
Spotify, which launched in Turkey in 2013, has millions of users in the country but the market is not a key revenue driver. The tech company clashed with Turkish authorities in 2021 when the media regulator threatened to cut “inappropriate” content on the platform that is home to podcasts that are critical of the government.
The last time Spotify threatened to pull out of a country was in 2023 during a dispute with Uruguay over a new copyright law in 2023. The row was eventually settled and Spotify remained. The Turkish government was approached for comment.