WASHINGTON, DC (August 27, 2025) – The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) called on Spotify to either halt the roll out of its new direct message (DM) features or disable the DM feature for minors and utilize robust age verification to ensure minors do not access it, as direct messages are a high-risk feature for sexual abuse and grooming online. Spotify’s DM feature is reported to be for everyone aged 16 and up.
“Spotify should halt its rollout of a new DM feature, given that DMs are a prime way predators can contact teens. Spotify has a track record of not prioritizing child safety, as it took them 8 years just to add basic parental controls (Spotify Kids). There have already been cases of children being groomed and abused on Spotify, and inevitably this will get worse with the DM feature. All minors deserve to be protected from online harms, and teens aren’t immune from these harms when they turn 16,” said Haley McNamara, Executive Director and Chief Strategy Officer, National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
Spotify was named to NCOSE’s 2024 Dirty Dozen List of mainstream contributors to sexual exploitation. Pornography (including visual content that normalizes sexual violence, child sexual abuse, and incest) can be easily found on Spotify in the form of thumbnails graphically depicting sexual activity and nudity, as well as “audio pornography” (recordings of sex sounds or sexually explicit stories read aloud) and in “video podcasts.”
“If Spotify does not reconsider allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to have access to the DM feature, it will be on track to become a hotspot for child sexual exploitation,” McNamara added.
About National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE)
Founded in 1962, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) is the leading national non-profit organization exposing the links between all forms of sexual exploitation such as child sexual abuse, prostitution, sex trafficking and the public health harms of pornography.
To schedule an interview with NCOSE, please contact press@ncose.com
