Amid widespread criticism, Spotify is no longer running recruitment ads for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The ads began appearing for free users of the streaming service in mid-October 2025, according to reports on social media. However, a spokesperson confirmed to Variety that “There are currently no ICE ads running on Spotify.” The rep did not confirm why Spotify made the change, but said they were part of a broader “US government recruitment campaign.
In a later statement to music outlet Pitchfork, Spotify said the ads stopped running at the end of 2025, before the deadly shooting of a Minnesota woman by an ICE agent earlier this week.
In October, the nonprofit Indivisible launched a campaign called Don’t Stream Fascism: Cancel Spotify, urging users “to cancel their subscriptions and artists to take a stand by speaking out against their work being weaponized for hate.” Several artists removed their music from the platform, including indie rock bands Deerhoof and My Bloody Valentine, as well as UK hip-hop group Massive Attack. In 2019, over 150 artists also vowed to boycott Amazon-sponsored music events due to Amazon Web Services ICE contracts.
ICE ads also appeared on Hulu, Max, YouTube, and Pandora as early as April 2025, according to a Rolling Stone report from November. Spotify reportedly received $74,000 from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to run the ICE ads, according to industry sources cited by the outlet, which is less than 3% of the government’s total spending on Google and Meta. Meanwhile, DHS reportedly spent nearly $3 million in 2025 on Spanish-language advertising promoting self-deportation on YouTube and Google.
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Despite Spotify’s move, it may be challenging to completely avoid ICE advertising in 2026. An ICE spokesperson recently told The Washington Post that the agency expects to spend $100 million in the next calendar year on recruitment ads, targeting college campuses, gun shows, podcasts, and sporting events.
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