UPDATE: A Spotify spokesperson says the ‘isolated’ issue related to a single ad and been now been resolved. The company issued TrustedReviews with the following statement:
“A small number of users have experienced a problem with questionable website pop ups in their default browsers as a result of an isolated issue with an ad on our free tier. We have now identified the source of the problem and have shut it down. We will continue to monitor the situation.”
Original story continues below…
The Spotify Free software is serving users with browser-based malware, according to widespread reports on Wednesday.
The ad-supported service is opening users’ web browsers with malicious and potentially dangerous websites, users have claimed.
Related: Can Spotify Video rival YouTube?
The issue came to light on Tuesday when user Tonyonly reported it through the community forums.
He wrote: “There’s something pretty alarming going on right now with Spotify Free. This started a several hours ago. If you have Spotify Free open, it will launch – and keep on launching – the default internet browser on the computer to different kinds of malware / virus sites. Some of them do not even require user action to be able to cause harm.”
Spotify responded by pledging to look into the issue and we’ve approached the company for comment.
Meanwhile, others have registered their displeasure via Twitter
https://twitter.com/statuses/783607557424345088
Are you experiencing strange browser launches when using Spotify on the desktop? Our advice, for now, would be to shut it down until there’s a fix in place.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
