Spotify has acquired Kinzen, a Dublin-based company that uses machine learning and actual humans to help moderate its audio content.
Kinzen uses its technology – backed by analysis from leading local academics and journalists – to scan for potentially harmful content and hate speech in multiple languages and countries. Spotify says Kinzen’s “unique” technology is “particularly suited” for podcasting and audio formats.
“We’ve long had an impactful and collaborative partnership with Kinzen and its exceptional team. Now, working together as one, we’ll be able to even further improve our ability to detect and address harmful content, and importantly, in a way that better considers local context,” said Dustee Jenkins, Spotify’s global head of public affairs.
“This investment expands Spotify’s approach to platform safety, and underscores how seriously we take our commitment to creating a safe and enjoyable experience for creators and users.”
The two companies began working together in 2020 and Spotify says the collaboration has been “critical” to improving its approach to platform safety which needs to work across hundreds of languages and dialects while being able to parse any nuance and the intent of the content.
“The combination of tools and expert insights is Kinzen’s unique strength that we see as essential to identifying emerging abuse trends in markets and moderating potentially dangerous content at scale,” said Sarah Hoyle, Spotify’s head of trust and safety.
“This expansion of our team, combined with the launch of our Safety Advisory Council, demonstrates the proactive approach we’re taking in this important space.”
Whether this new acquisition will have any bearing on how adverts can be served in Spotify – whether for free account users or in podcasts, remains to be seen. However, media producers and creative agencies will definitely feel the impact of the acquisition as Spotify might become more judicious in the way it moderates podcasts and audiobooks.
