Spotify could pull out of Turkey after government officials attacked the music streaming service for user-created playlists including two that mock the country’s first lady, titled “Songs Emine Erdogan listened to when her golden faucet broke” and “Emine Erdogan hotgirl playlist.”

The Turkish government condemned such playlists as offensive and “incompatible with the cultural and moral values of our nation.”

The Sweden-based audio and podcasting giant was reported by The Times on July 12 as saying that it was evaluating whether to suspend or completely end its operations in Turkey.

Turkish Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Batuhan Mumcu accused Spotify of hosting “content that targets our religious and national values and insults the beliefs of our society”.

He described the platform as ignoring “the sensitivities of our society” and urged legal action.

The Turkish Competition Authority subsequently initiated an investigation into Spotify’s market practices. Matters such as whether Spotify provides unfair visibility to certain artists, discriminates against independent musicians and interferes in competition by favouring some creators over others are being examined.

The regulator suggested Spotify may have violated the competition law of Turkey, a country of towards 90mn people, through the unequal distribution of royalties and possible abuse of market dominance.

Spotify said it was cooperating with the inquiry and endeavouring to comprehend the scope of the investigation.

“We are aware of the investigation initiated by the Turkish Competition Authority. We are cooperating within the process and working towards a swift and constructive resolution,” the company said in a post on X. “While all our operations comply with legal requirements, we cannot comment further due to the lack of details regarding the scope or focus of the inspection.”

Spotify sources added in comments to The Times that the company stands firmly against censorship of user-generated content. It was continuing to communicate with Turkish authorities, but was also “evaluating all scenarios,” including “pausing its operations in the market or exiting Türkiye altogether.”

The platform launched in Turkey in 2013. A previous flashpoint came in 2021, when regulators threatened to order the removal of content critical of the government.

Mumcu has also claimed that Spotify fails to support local music culture, saying that it makes a priority of “sensation over quality” and promotes content that includes “slang, violence, and the use of prohibited substances.”

Spotify, he said, has “neither established a local representation nor taken responsibility for supporting local music culture”.

Turkish freedom of expression group IFOD  last week noted that the government ordered Spotify to block music from left-wing folk band Grup Yorum.

Spotify underlines its backing for freedom of expression and boasts of financial contributions to Turkey’s music scene that in 2024 amounted to nearly $50mn for Turkish artists. In that year, it added, around 90% of the songs in Spotify’s Turkey Top 50 were from domestic musicians.

In September last year, France-headquartered digital music company Believe announced it would take full ownership of Turkey’s largest independent label Dogan Music Company (DMC) after securing regulatory approval for the deal.