Spotify has announced that it’s buying Kinzen, a company that it describes as a leader in protecting communities against harmful content. The two firms have been collaborating to moderate content since 2020, but the purchase will see Spotify take control of Kinzen’s machine learning technology and workforce.
Commenting on the news, Dustee Jenkins, Spotify’s Global Head of Public Affairs, said:
“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. 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.”
With Spotify being used all around the world with content being heard in different languages, it’s important that Spotify can moderate this material. With Kinzen’s technology, Spotify can analyse audio content across hundreds of languages and dialects and decide if it"s harmful. The technology is so sophisticated that it can also separate harmful content based on the nuance and intent of the content.
Spotify’s acquisition doesn’t seem to be helping its share price at the time of writing. At market open, it was valued at $94.63, but has since fell more than 5.41% to $89.51 at the time of writing. During the second quarter it missed expectations, it"s third quarter report is due out on October 25.