Spotify has not clearly told its users where the information collected about them ends up. The company is appealing the decision.
Spotify has an estimated 500 million monthly users. MATTIA SEDDA
On Tuesday, the Swedish music streaming giant Spotify was fined 58 million kroner (about 5 million euros) by the Swedish privacy protection authorities. This was reported by news agency AFP.
The authorities had noticed serious flaws in the company’s data protection practices and found that the company was in violation of the European Union’s data protection regulation.
According to the authorities, the streaming giant has not properly informed its users how user data is collected and what it is used for.
“Small point of improvement”
The European Data Protection Regulation, known as GDPR, enables the user to ask the company for the information collected about him and for an explanation of where this has ended up.
According to the authorities, in the requests for information, the company has told what user data they have, but failed to say where it ends up.
– Since the information provided by Spotify has been unclear, those who requested it have not been able to check whether their use was legal, the authorities said.
According to the authorities, the fine is reasonable considering the number of users and subscribers of the company. Spotify has an estimated 500 million monthly users, of which 210 million pay for the service.
– The attention of the authorities concerns only a small improvement point in the service, the company told AFP in its response.
Spotify announced that it will appeal the decision.