this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2025
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'Technofascist military fantasy': Spotify faces boycott calls over CEO’s investment in AI military startup (www.middleeasteye.net)
submitted 1 day ago by geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml to c/technology@lemmy.world
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Spotify, the world’s leading music streaming platform, is facing intense criticism and boycott calls following CEO Daniel Ek’s announcement of a €600m ($702m) investment in Helsing, a German defence startup specialising in AI-powered combat drones and military software.

The move, announced on 17 June, has sparked widespread outrage from musicians, activists and social media users who accuse Ek of funnelling profits from music streaming into the military industry.

Many have started calling on users to cancel their subscriptions to the service.

“Finally cancelling my Spotify subscription – why am I paying for a fuckass app that works worse than it did 10 years ago, while their CEO spends all my money on technofascist military fantasies?” said one user on X.

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[–] kibiz0r@midwest.social 67 points 23 hours ago (14 children)

I think one of the most toxic things on Lemmy is the prevalence of judging normies for using incredibly popular services and ascribing it to a character defect instead of life just being too complex for most people to be able to prioritize exploring more ethical technology choices.

[–] vividspecter@aussie.zone 9 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (6 children)

I get where you're coming from, but it's not like there aren't multiple obvious alternatives (and not just on the fediverse). And someone being clued in enough to boycott Spotify should have no trouble finding those alternatives. Additionally, the platform being owned by an outright Nazi should give even the most out of touch people pause.

But agreed that people could stand to be a bit more tactful about it and not immediately go on the attack.

[–] Trihilis@ani.social 2 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

So what is there for normies? YouTube which is also owned by a fascist company. Deezer which is shit. Apple which is another fascist company that supports trump. Tidal which has also had its fair share of controversy ( not paying artists), shit ui etc.

And if you mention the fediverse people will look at you like you speak an alien language.

[–] vividspecter@aussie.zone 1 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

Most of those are lesser evils compared to X, and that's probably the best you can hope for. And Bluesky is the obvious alternative lesser evil choice if you want a like for like replacement and aren't open to Mastodon.

[–] Trihilis@ani.social 2 points 11 hours ago

Oh you were talking about social media. I was talking about music services.

Fair enough then. I agree there is no excuse to still use X

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