This page covers Spotify's Acceptable Use Policy across 4 scrapes (2023-05-08, 2024-03-19, 2024-03-23, 2025-10-03), with only 3 unique snippets — one is a cosmetic link-formatting variant of another (a "Platform Rules" markdown link is stripped to plain text at 2024-03-19, then restored at 2024-03-23) — and no substantive wording change detected at any date.
What this wiki found — complete, every page
Presence facts, not verdicts — each flagged term links to its definition and the exact clause on this page. Absence of a badge means the term isn't currently flagged here, not that the page is risk-free.
Independent reviews, where they had something to say
Spotify – Acceptable Use Policy
Dataset: PGAv2 (Platform Governance Archive v2) — 25 platforms, 2022–2026
PGAv2 (Platform Governance Archive v2) is this wiki’s legacy dataset: pre-tagged JSONL records covering 25 major social-media, messaging, and content-sharing platforms, with risk scores and keywords assigned via systematic extraction of 1,736 high-risk clauses from each platform’s Terms of Service, Privacy Policies, and Community Guidelines, spanning 2022–2026.
Note: This page contains documented policy clauses. Risk assessment is qualitative and context-dependent. For analysis of patterns across platforms, see:
Source: sources/jsonl/Spotify_Acceptable_Use_Policy.jsonl
Last updated: 2025-10-03
Overview
This page covers Spotify’s Acceptable Use Policy across 4 scrapes (2023-05-08, 2024-03-19, 2024-03-23, 2025-10-03), with only 3 unique snippets — one is a cosmetic link-formatting variant of another (a “Platform Rules” markdown link is stripped to plain text at 2024-03-19, then restored at 2024-03-23) — and no substantive wording change detected at any date.
The core clause is a “Prohibited Uses” list banning users from reverse-engineering, decompiling, or creating derivative works of the Services, and — most notably — explicitly banning “‘crawling’ or ‘scraping’… or otherwise using any part of the Services or Content to train a machine learning or AI model or otherwise ingesting Spotify Content into a machine learning or AI model.” This is one of the most direct, explicitly-worded anti-AI-training restrictions on third parties in this wiki, naming the prohibited activity (“ingesting… Content into a machine learning or AI model”) with unusual precision compared to the more generic “automated means” bans seen on most other platforms.
Flagged Keywords & Risks
machine learning,train AI/models,AI model,derivative works,automated means— Bans users and scrapers from reverse-engineering, copying, or scraping the Services, and specifically bans feeding Spotify Content into a machine learning or AI model. Why it matters: this clause restricts what outside parties can do — it isn’t Spotify claiming new rights over user data. It shields Spotify’s licensed music catalog from being scraped for AI training by third parties. Unlike some platforms (e.g., X’s Grok carve-out), the text carves out no exception for Spotify’s own AI use.
Legal Context & Research Significance
This clause is the clearest example in this wiki of the contract mechanism Atkinson (2025) describes: by explicitly prohibiting “‘crawling’ or ‘scraping’… or otherwise using any part of the Services or Content to train a machine learning or AI model,” Spotify ensures that any bot traversing this Acceptable Use Policy has actual notice of the restriction, making the prohibition contractually enforceable against that bot’s deployer even though, per Atkinson, “robots.txt is a leaky solution” that cannot enforce itself technically. Because this is a restriction Spotify imposes on others rather than a grant of Spotify’s own rights over user data, it falls outside wearetosed’s six categories in the way most flagged clauses on this wiki do not — it is a unilateral-control-style data-moat protection rather than a data-sharing, tracking, retention, law-enforcement, or rights-waiver clause, underscoring that not every high-risk-scored clause in this dataset maps neatly onto a single wearetosed category.
Changes Summary
| Date | What changed |
|---|---|
| 2023-05-08 | Baseline version (first scrape in this dataset). |
| 2024-03-19 | Cosmetic only: “Platform Rules” link markdown stripped to plain text in the derivative works snippet; no substantive wording change. |
| 2024-03-23 | Cosmetic only: derivative works snippet reverts to the linked “Platform Rules” formatting from 2023-05-08. |
| 2025-10-03 | No changes from previous version. |
Version History
2023-05-08
- Explicit AI clause: YES
- Non-explicit predatory: YES
- Flagged keywords:
machine learning,train AI/models,AI model,derivative works,automated means
Clause: machine learning, train AI/models, AI model, automated means
If applicable law allows you to decompile any part of the Services or Content where required in order to obtain the information necessary to create an independent program that can be operated with the Services or with another program, the information you obtain from such activities (a) may only be used for the foregoing objective, (b) may not be disclosed or communicated without Spotify’s prior written consent to any third party to whom it is not necessary to disclose or communicate in order to achieve that objective, and (c) may not be used to create any software or service that is substantially similar in its expression to any part of the Services or the Content; 2. copying, reproducing, redistributing, “ripping,” recording, transferring, performing, framing, linking to or displaying to the public, broadcasting, or making available to the public, or any other use which is not expressly permitted under the Agreements or applicable law, or which otherwise infringes intellectual property rights; 3. importing or copying any local files that you do not have the legal right to import or copy in this way; 4. transferring copies of cached Content from an authorized Device to any other Device via any means; 5. “crawling” or “scraping”, whether manually or by automated means, or otherwise using any automated means (including bots, scrapers, and spiders), to view, access or collect information, or using any part of the Services or Content to train a machine learning or AI model or otherwise ingesting Spotify Content into a machine learning or AI model; 6. selling, renting, sublicensing, leasing or other monetization except as expressly permitted under the Agreements; 7. selling a user account or playlist, or otherwise accepting or offering to accept any compensation, financial or otherwise, to influence the name of an account or playlist or the content included on an account or playlist; or 8. artificially increasing play counts or follow counts, artificially promoting Content, or other manipulation including by (i) using any bot, script or other automated process, (ii) providing or accepting any form of compensation (financial or otherwise), or (iii) any other means; 9. circumventing any technology used by Spotify, its licensors, or any third party, including any territorial or other content access restrictions applied by Spotify or its licensors; 10.
Clause: derivative works
Violating the User Guidelines or Platform Rules may result in removal of any content or material you’ve contributed to the Services and/or termination or suspension of your account. We try to make the Services broadly available to everyone, but you cannot use our Services if we’ve previously terminated your account on any of our Services. We also prohibit attempts to circumvent prior enforcement actions, including through the creation of new accounts. The following is not permitted for any reason whatsoever in relation to the Services and the material or content made available through the Services, or any part thereof: 1. reverse-engineering, decompiling, disassembling, modifying, or creating derivative works, except where such restriction is expressly prohibited by applicable law. If applicable law allows you to decompile any part of the Services or Content where required in order to obtain the information necessary to create an independent program that can be operated with the Services or with another program, the information you obtain from such activities (a) may only be used for the foregoing objective, (b) may not be disclosed or communicated without Spotify’s prior written consent to any third party to whom it is not necessary to disclose or communicate in order to achieve that objective, and (c) may not be used to create any software or service that is substantially similar in its expression to any part of the Services or the Content; 2. copying, reproducing, redistributing, “ripping,” recording, transferring, performing, framing, linking to or displaying to the public, broadcasting, or making available to the public, or any other use which is not expressly permitted under the Agreements or applicable law, or which otherwise infringes intellectual property rights; 3. importing or copying any local files that you do not have the legal right to import or copy in this way; 4. transferring copies of cached Content from an authorized Device to any other Device via any means; 5.
2024-03-19
- Explicit AI clause: YES
- Non-explicit predatory: YES
- Flagged keywords:
machine learning,train AI/models,AI model,derivative works,automated means
machine learning, train AI/models, AI model, automated means unchanged from 2023-05-08.
Clause: derivative works
Violating the User Guidelines or Platform Rules may result in removal of any content or material you’ve contributed to the Services and/or termination or suspension of your account. We try to make the Services broadly available to everyone, but you cannot use our Services if we’ve previously terminated your account on any of our Services. We also prohibit attempts to circumvent prior enforcement actions, including through the creation of new accounts. The following is not permitted for any reason whatsoever in relation to the Services and the material or content made available through the Services, or any part thereof: 1. reverse-engineering, decompiling, disassembling, modifying, or creating derivative works, except where such restriction is expressly prohibited by applicable law. If applicable law allows you to decompile any part of the Services or Content where required in order to obtain the information necessary to create an independent program that can be operated with the Services or with another program, the information you obtain from such activities (a) may only be used for the foregoing objective, (b) may not be disclosed or communicated without Spotify’s prior written consent to any third party to whom it is not necessary to disclose or communicate in order to achieve that objective, and (c) may not be used to create any software or service that is substantially similar in its expression to any part of the Services or the Content; 2. copying, reproducing, redistributing, “ripping,” recording, transferring, performing, framing, linking to or displaying to the public, broadcasting, or making available to the public, or any other use which is not expressly permitted under the Agreements or applicable law, or which otherwise infringes intellectual property rights; 3. importing or copying any local files that you do not have the legal right to import or copy in this way; 4. transferring copies of cached Content from an authorized Device to any other Device via any means; 5.
2024-03-23
- Explicit AI clause: YES
- Non-explicit predatory: YES
- Flagged keywords:
machine learning,train AI/models,AI model,derivative works,automated means
machine learning, train AI/models, AI model, automated means unchanged from 2024-03-19.
derivative works reverted to the 2023-05-08 wording (see above).
2025-10-03
- Explicit AI clause: YES
- Non-explicit predatory: YES
- Flagged keywords:
machine learning,train AI/models,AI model,derivative works,automated means
All clauses unchanged from 2024-03-23 (see above).