Security News > 2023 > July > Spotify reportedly makes users' private playlists public
In what is shaping up to be a widespread privacy controversy, Spotify has come under scrutiny following allegations by users that the music streaming service made their private playlists public without their consent.
There are similar reports on Spotify's forum in March, with one of the affected users being a music curator who uses Spotify professionally.
"I have revisited some lists made a month or so ago and they are all public now. Looking at more and they are now public as well!," wrote the user on Spotify's forums.
Back in March, a user proposed a theory stating, "The actual settings of our playlists haven't changed. What was formerly known as 'private' and 'public' playlists are now all called 'public', since they weren't actually private previously, as they could be shared through a link."
The theory further suggested a new level of truly private playlists that could not be accessed by others even with a link and only playlists marked as 'on profile' could be found via search or in the 'Discovered on' section on artist pages.
Despite the theory, Spotify users insist their recent experiences indicate a different issue.