FACT CHECK: No, Spotify Is Not Adding An ‘Age Cap’ To Its Platform
A viral image shared on X, formerly Twitter, claims music streaming service Spotify is adding an “age cap” to its platform.
Spotify “age cap” means you can’t listen to some artists if ur too old pic.twitter.com/ghMo1wmlDG
— Soren Iverson (@soren_iverson) April 24, 2024
Verdict: False
The claim is false. A Spotify spokesperson told Check Your Fact the claim is “incorrect” via email.
Fact Check:
Spotify said Apple purportedly rejected a “new version of its iOS app” that includes “in-app pricing information for users in the European Union,” according to Reuters. Spotify made the revelation via an April 24 X post, the outlet reported.
“Spotify ‘age cap’ means you can’t listen to some artists if [you’re] too old,” the viral X image’s caption reads. The image, viewed over seven million times, purports to show a pop-up message on Spotify claiming to tell a user they are too old to be listening to pop singer Olivia Rodrigo, whose age cap is 25.
The claim is false, however. The claim is neither referenced on Spotify’s website nor its verified social media accounts. Likewise, Check Your Fact found no credible news reports to support the claim. In fact, the opposite is true. Snopes reported the claim is false via an April 25 article. (RELATED: Facebook Image Does Not Show Authentic Rolling Stone Headline)
Additionally, @soren_iverson, the X user who shared the image, admitted in a later post that it was just a “concept” he created, and therefore, not authentic.
“I need to start making concepts at 3am more often,” Iverson wrote.
I need to start making concepts at 3am more often
— Soren Iverson (@soren_iverson) April 24, 2024
In a third X post, Iverson said he’d made a “coffee table book” with “over 365 unhinged concepts” similar to the one he’d shared about the purported Spotify cap.
Furthermore, a Spotify spokesperson told Check Your Fact the claim is “incorrect” via email.
“This [claim] is incorrect,” the spokesperson said.
This is not the first time a false claim has circulated online. Check Your Fact previously debunked a Facebook image that claims Tyson Foods is purportedly putting insects in its products.
