Spotify India removes Pakistani songs from its platform

In response to a government directive, all major Indian platforms removed Pakistani songs, including popular hits like Maand, Jhol, and Faasly, following the recent military conflict between the two nations.

This action highlights the ongoing tensions and the broader impact of conflict between two neigbourly nations.

India Today reported that users of Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube were no longer able to access Pakistani music, days after the government issued its order to take down Pakistan-origin content.

On May 8, the Indian government released an advisory urging all OTT platforms, streaming services, and digital intermediaries to remove any media content, such as web series, films, songs, and podcasts, that originates from Pakistan.

Read: Pakistani actors removed from posters of Bollywood movies

This move followed a military escalation between the two neighboring countries over the Pahalgam issue. While India blamed Pakistan for the incident, Pakistan strongly rejected the allegations as baseless and called for an independent investigation. However, India declined to participate in any international inquiry.

Although military tensions have somewhat eased, but the Indian boycott of Pakistani content continues.

In last week’s advisory, the Indian government cited national security as the primary reason behind the ban, stating that such content could potentially threaten the country’s sovereignty, integrity, and public order.

In a related development, Pakistani actors who previously starred in Bollywood films were removed from film posters on several online platforms, as anti-Pakistan sentiment intensifies in India following the recent military standoff.