In a bold move, Spotify announced a new new policy that removes the promotion, playlists and recommendations for artists who display “hateful content” and who demonstrate “hateful conduct” - from its platform. Spotify claims that the library continues to grow by 20,000 recordings a day and while the company celebrates all of the genres, cultures and types of music, it will not tolerate hate. Putting its policy where its $$ could be, the platform removed PROMOTION of R. Kelly, the multi-platinum R&B singer, and XXXTentacion, the troubled young rapper and singer — who Spotify said had been removed from all official playlists and recommendation features on the service. The artists and their buddies are sounding off:

Commenting on the Hate Content & Hateful Conduct policy, Spotify states, “We have tens of millions of tracks on Spotify, growing by approximately 20,000 recordings a day. Nothing makes us more excited than discovering and sharing that music. One of the most amazing things about all that music is the range of genres, cultures, experiences, and stories embodied in it. We love that our platform is home to so much diversity because we believe in openness, tolerance, respect, and freedom of expression, and we want to promote those values through music on our platform. However, we do not tolerate hate content on Spotify - content that expressly and principally promotes, advocates, or incites hatred or violence against a group or individual based on characteristics, including, race, religion, gender identity, sex, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, veteran status, or disability.”Spotify continues, “This is our first iteration of this new policy. These are complicated issues, and we’re going to continue to revise our Policy on Hate Content and Hateful Conduct. We’ll make some mistakes, we’ll learn from them, and we’ll always listen to you as we work to keep building the Spotify platform.”Could this be the first move in a series of streaming services taking a stand on “hate?” What do you think?