‘Don’t stream Fascism, cancel Spotify’: Calls to cancel Spotify subscription over running ICE recruitment ads – Intensify

New York, NY – New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a prominent progressive voice, recent mayoral contender, and staunch backer of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, fired off a detailed letter to Spotify CEO Daniel Ek on November 13, demanding comprehensive answers about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recruitment advertisements that have proliferated on the platform in recent weeks.

Lander, acting in his capacity as trustee and investment advisor for the city’s five public employee pension funds—which collectively hold 691,681 shares of Spotify valued at $482,793,542 as of September 30, 2025—warned that the ads “may violate Spotify’s advertising policies and impact long-term shareholder value,” potentially exposing the company to severe reputational damage amid a growing national boycott.

The ICE ads, part of a multimillion-dollar Department of Homeland Security (DHS) campaign to expand the agency into the largest law enforcement entity in U.S. history under President Donald Trump’s mass deportation initiative, have ignited fury for their inflammatory language.

One widely circulated version states: “In too many cities, dangerous illegals walk free as police are forced to stand down. Join ICE and help us catch the worst of the worst, with bonuses up to $50,000 and generous benefits. Apply now.”

The ad was captured by a TikTok user and preserved by fact-checking outlet Snopes, which verified its authenticity as part of DHS’s broader recruitment push across digital, television, and streaming platforms including X, YouTube, LinkedIn, Meta and cable networks.

Lander’s letter explicitly references the “Don’t Stream Fascism: Cancel Spotify” campaign launched by progressive advocacy group Indivisible, which has mobilized tens of thousands of users to terminate subscriptions in protest.

Indivisible claims over 50,000 cancellations since the ads surfaced in late October, with the hashtag #CancelSpotify trending for 48 hours and amassing 1.2 million posts on X.

“These ads have sparked widespread backlash and at least one major national organization is urging Spotify users to cancel their subscription,” Lander wrote, emphasizing the threat to subscriber retention, artist partnerships and overall brand equity.

From a fiduciary standpoint, Lander expressed alarm over Spotify’s adherence to its own advertising policies, which prohibit content promoting “systemic discrimination and marginalization.”

He posed a series of pointed questions: How did Spotify evaluate the ads against these guidelines? Has the company quantified the controversy’s effects on churn rates, revenue projections, or relationships with high-profile artists like Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny, who have previously spoken out on social justice issues? What internal risk assessments were conducted prior to approval, and what mitigation strategies are in place?

A Spotify spokesperson responded with a prepared statement: “This ad itself is part of a wider campaign from the U.S. government running across multiple platforms, including television, streaming, and online channels. Users can help control their ad experience by liking or disliking an ad or by logging into their account via web browser and updating their ad preferences.”

The company declined to address specific policy violations or boycott impacts.

In a November 14, interview, Lander elaborated on the strategy behind the letter: “Hopefully what we’ll get is good answers to the questions we’re asking.”

He described it as the opening salvo in investor engagement, noting the pension funds’ combined $300 billion in assets under management position them as the fourth-largest public pension system nationwide.

The funds—one each for police officers, firefighters, teachers, non-pedagogical Board of Education employees, and other city workers—are administered with input from boards on which Lander serves as trustee. His office’s responsible investing team, staffed by 12 analysts, routinely engages companies on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks.

Lander warned that unsatisfactory responses could escalate: “If Spotify doesn’t have a satisfactory response to his questions, the city’s funds could work with other investors to press Spotify for answers or consider a shareholder resolution to do so. In some cases in the past, where we have been unable to get answers we are looking for, or have a satisfactory engagement, we have divested from, or sold the stock of, particular companies or sectors. We only do that after a lot of engagement. Our strong preference is to use our position as investors to reach resolution. We do this from a responsible fiduciary perspective, believing that what we’re doing is helping increase the value of the companies we’re invested in… we’re just starting here, this is the first letter we’re writing.”

Beyond financial implications, Lander framed the ads within Trump’s aggressive deportation framework, which has already led to the erroneous detention of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents—predominantly people of color.

“The mass deportation effort involves a broadscale hiring effort to make ICE the largest law enforcement agency in American history,” he said.

“Essentially every time, it is a person of color, without, so far as we can tell, lawful basis for many of the arrests. If you are conducting arrests without lawful basis, and they are consistently of people of one ethnicity, that is a systemic civil rights violation—and I believe these ads are part of it.”

Lander has personal experience with the issue, having been arrested twice in recent months while observing proceedings at Manhattan’s federal immigration court, where ICE agents have systematically detained migrants during scheduled check-ins.

Following his latest arrest in October, he demanded DHS accountability for reinstating a particularly aggressive officer: “We owe it to the families of those detained—and every New Yorker impacted by Donald Trump’s mass deportation machine—to keep showing up and demanding accountability for the violence, cruelty, and lawless abduction of our neighbors.”

Spotify’s challenges extend beyond ICE. CEO Daniel Ek’s venture firm Prima Materia recently led a 600 million euro investment in Helsing, a European AI-driven military technology company where Ek serves as chairman.

The deal, announced in September, triggered an artist exodus, with over 200 musicians—including indie acts and mid-tier stars—publicly pulling catalogs in protest of perceived militarization ties. Spotify’s share price, hovering around $698 as of September 30, has slipped 3.2% amid the dual controversies, per NYSE data.

DHS has allocated $12 million to deportation-related advertising in 2025, including “self-deport” prompts urging undocumented individuals to leave voluntarily. Lander’s letter zeroes in on Spotify’s “quite strong anti-discrimination policy” as the benchmark for scrutiny.

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The inquiry unfolds against a backdrop of Epstein file releases on November 12 (Phase 2, including Trump-Epstein emails), Trump’s November 14, feud with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene over transparency, and his November 6, Oval Office unbothered gesture during a guest collapse.

Lander’s office made it clear that if Spotify continues to stonewall, pension funds may file a 2026 shareholder resolution at the annual meeting, potentially rallying allies such as CalPERS.

House Oversight’s Phase 3 Epstein hearing on December 5, could subpoena ad contracts. As Indivisible’s boycott swells and artist defections mount, Spotify’s Q4 earnings call on January 28, 2026, will face intense scrutiny over ad revenue versus subscriber loss.