January 2026, is Spotify still running ads for ICE?
Executive summary
Spotify confirmed in early January 2026 that ICE recruitment advertisements are no longer running on its platform, saying the federal campaign that funded the spots concluded at the end of 2025 [1] [2] [3]. The company stopped the ads because the government campaign ended, not because Spotify voluntarily changed its ad policy, and Spotify has not committed to refusing similar future buys [3] [4].
1. The immediate answer: no, Spotify is not running ICE ads in January 2026
Multiple outlets report that a Spotify spokesperson confirmed there are “currently no ICE ads running on Spotify,” and that the ads stopped at the end of 2025 when the broader U.S. government recruitment campaign concluded [2] [3] [1]. Variety, Pitchfork and Rolling Stone all published confirmations that the audio recruitment spots have stopped airing on Spotify’s ad-supported tier [1] [3] [2].
2. How Spotify explains the pause: campaign ended, not a policy reversal
Spotify’s public statements frame the cessation as a function of the federal campaign concluding rather than a corporate policy change: the ads were “part of a broad campaign the US government is running across television, streaming, and online channels,” and because that campaign has ended, Spotify says the spots are no longer airing [1] [3] [5]. Reporting notes Spotify previously defended running the ads as compliant with its advertising rules and emphasized user feedback tools rather than a categorical refusal of such government buys [1] [6].
3. Critics, boycotts and artist departures pushed the controversy into public view
Grassroots groups including Indivisible mounted organized boycotts and open letters demanding Spotify terminate ICE and DHS ad contracts and adopt a policy barring “government propaganda and hate-based recruitment” [7] [8]. Artists and some subscribers publicly protested and in some cases pulled music from the platform, and those pressures framed much of the 2025 backlash reported by outlets covering the ad buys [9] [10].
4. An important caveat: Spotify hasn’t pledged to never run similar ads again
Although Spotify confirmed the campaign has stopped, critics and multiple news analyses note the company declined to say it would refuse future ICE or DHS buys — Spotify’s spokespeople repeatedly pointed to standard ad-policy review if future government campaigns arise [4] [11]. Some outlets documented earlier statements where Spotify maintained the ads did not violate its policies and offered only user-level ad feedback tools as mitigation [6] [12].
5. The broader context: scale, payments and platform choices matter
Reporting shows the Department of Homeland Security purchased ad placements across multiple platforms — with relatively modest spends on Spotify compared with other services according to aggregated data cited by Rolling Stone and Variety — and the campaign’s reach extended beyond music streaming into video and social platforms [1] [2]. That diffusion of buys made Spotify one node in a federal recruitment strategy, which partly explains why platforms answered with statements about compliance and campaign timelines rather than unilateral policy changes [1] [5].
Conclusion: current state and what to watch next
As of January 2026, Spotify is not airing ICE recruitment ads because the federal campaign concluded at the end of 2025 and Spotify confirmed the ads have stopped, but the company has not adopted an explicit ban on future ICE or DHS advertising and retains the standard ad-review posture that allowed the prior spots [3] [4] [6]. Observers should watch whether activist pressure or changes to Spotify’s advertising policy produce a formal prohibition, and whether future DHS/ICE campaigns target the platform again — circumstances the company has left open [7] [4].