Spotify will terminate your free account if it finds you’re using an ad blocker

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If you’re one of the many folks who utilize an ad blocker to get past all those annoying ads on Spotify’s free plan, watch out, the company’s gunning for you and could possibly terminate your account.

Spotify updated its terms of service and sent out an email to its users today stating that they wanted to make “it clear that all types of ad blockers, bots, and fraudulent streaming activities are not permitted.” Accounts that are found using these services to bypass ads are at risk at getting their account suspended or an outright termination under the new terms of services, which goes into effect on March 1.

According to Spotify’s new guidelines, it states: “circumventing or blocking advertisements in the Spotify Service, or creating and distributing tools designed to block advertisements in the Spotify Service” may now result in “immediate termination or suspension of your Spotify account.”

It makes sense for Spotify

Honestly, I can’t blame them. Here’s a company that offers users free music. The catch? You have to listen to a few ads every 10-15 minutes. Seems like a fair trade, right? Well, apparently not.

Back in March of 2018, the company claimed that it found two million users (which equates to 1.3 percent of its total user base) were using ad blockers on Spotify’s free plan. On top of that, the company discovered that unauthorized Android apps were floating around that let folks access Spotify without any ads.

The thirst for free add-free supported music is real, and it makes sense that the company is cracking down on this sort of thing. I mean, can you blame them?

If you’re one of the folks pilfering Spotify for free music and you’re using an ad blocker to get around the ads, you might want to look into their premium subscriptions. It’s either that or put yourself at risk at getting your account terminated. The ball is in your court.

Are you using an ad blocker to bypass the ads? Do you think your account will be terminated? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

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• This nifty website will show you your top 50 Spotify tracks and artists
• This nifty website will show you your top 50 Spotify tracks and artists

Kevin Raposo

Kevin is KnowTechie's founder and executive editor. With over 15 years of blogging experience in the tech industry, Kevin has transformed what was once a passion project into a full-blown tech news publication. Shoot him an email at kevin@knowtechie.com.