Sea Change? TIDAL has pulled a song that used PMC Wagner Sledgehammer Imagery — will other streamers follow suit?

Quick update: in case you missed it, a couple weeks ago I posted this open letter on Medium. Since that time I have doubled down on the particular uniqueness of this situation.

I’ve spend a LOT of time thinking (and even working, somewhat, inside the system) about issues related to content moderation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. If I haven’t mentioned it in this Medium post yet, I was one of the first people to raise an alarm about state-sponsored influence campaigns on social media. This was an early warning sign about the types of Russian influence campaigns that eventually morphed into the industrial strength effort to promote Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and alt-right figures globally using the most divisive tactics possible. This Russian meddling, and the poison of Trump, all led us down the meth-drenched, militia wannabe, Camo-fatigue wearing path to January 6th. To paraphrase Jay-Z’s “Public Service Announcement”: “when it hits the fan, brother, whether it’s next year, ten years, twenty years from now, you’ll never be able to say that this brother Robby lied to you, Jack!”

My reward for raising warnings? My inglorious Twitter suspension. I’m not making that mistake again. Now, in this time of genocide and with the likely coming violent implosion of Putin’s regime, I know it to be wise to be as public as possible about everything.

This dude ran the Internet Research Agency group that filled American social media with even more stupid fucking memes than we already had. He also recruits sex offenders from Russian prisons to commit as many atrocities as they can in Ukraine. Naturally, he’s the odds on favorite to take charge after Putin. Have fun looking at this guy’s mug as he makes mockery of the United Nations or the G-20 with his vile presence.

While a lot of focus has been put on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, there’s been other areas where issues related to content moderation and the war might have been overlooked.

I, for one, have been more upset at the use “Z” and “V” images to promote the war — and how Russian propaganda has utilizes American tech platforms to promote them. Even though Russians are, by edict of their own government, prohibited from using Instagram, that hasn’t stopped Russian small business owners from using Instagram (in tandem with a WhatsApp number) to sell “Z” related products. This pissed me off so much I started a spreadsheet and a small blog.

Fascist Russian images, crafted into online content by advertising agencies. Within hours of the invasion, older Russian slogans were associated with new images (the “Z”) that implied mystery, and older images, such as the Ribbon of Saint George. Social media companies were hesitant to delete these images, even though they were rolled out in the same manner of a product launch or advertising campaign. There was nothing organic or natural about their use, and on Instagram, for example, it was the Instagram accounts of state municipalities and regional political officials who all posted the same exact material at the same exact time. For social media companies to acknowledge that this content was inauthentic it would, in my opinion, require them to move further away from their complete fealty to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

But, time for some good news! Today I received a reply back from the music streaming service TIDAL. In reply to a message I sent them back on December 22nd of 2022.

Here’s the message:

Dear Tidal Partners-

Hello! Thank you for taking the time to read this message. If at all possible, please direct this email to Chief Legal Officer Elizabeth Hyon. If any additional feedback is needed, I welcome the chance to engage in a conservation. If anyone at Tidal needs to discuss this issue, I can direct a Tidal representative to many folks who are much more knowledgeable about this than I.

However, I feel a strong need to personally raise this issue with you all now, and as soon as possible.

I’ll be brief and cut to the chase: Todal is hosting a song called “Русская классика (Вагнер 3)” by a Russian artist named Вика Цыганова (Vika Tsiganova).

Here’s the URL of the song:

https://tidal.com/browse/album/263135314

The issue, I believe, isn’t with the lyrics of the song. The issue is with the image “metadata” that is used to promote it. If you’ll notice the picture that accompanies this song is an image of a sledge hammer inside of a violin case.

This image is hosted here:

https://resources.tidal.com/images/6e5f5c40/b98b/45aa/8005/b89a231ef505/640x640.jpg

This image, of a sledge hammer inside of a violin case, is a show of support for an organization called the PMC Wagner Group. The PMC Wagner Group is a Russian organization that is involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and for their involvement in conflicts in Africa and Syria.

The Wagner Group is notorious for a recent episode where they filmed the execution of a man named Yevgenny Nuzhin. Mr. Nuzhin was bludgeoned to death by a sledgehammer, with video being widely shared online for propaganda purposes.

You can read more about that horrific event here:

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/sledgehammer-execution-russian-mercenary-who-defected-ukraine-shown-video-2022-11-13/

The artist Вика Цыганова’s use of this image is meant as a show of support for Wagner’s tactics and is an illusion to this execution video.

I believe that this image, the intent of which is to show overt support for a fascist organization that releases execution videos on the internet, is in absolute violation of the “Prohibit Content” of Tidal’s Terms and Conditions of Use. Tidal’s Terms and Conditions of Use (https://tidal.com/terms) states that user content that “Is patently offensive and promotes racism, bigotry, hatred or physical harm of any kind against any group or individual’ is prohibited.

Since the PMC Wagner Group advocates for the destruction of the Ukrainian people, I would argue that this image of the sledgehammer in the violin case, which is meant to indicate support for the group, is in violation of Tidal’s Terms and Conditions of Use, and should therefore be removed.

There is currently a bill proposed in Congress which would label the PMC Wagner Group as a Foreign Terror Organization. There have also been reports that the Biden administration is moving to unilaterally list this group as a terror organization.

I am writing about this image hosted on Tidal:

https://resources.tidal.com/images/6e5f5c40/b98b/45aa/8005/b89a231ef505/640x640.jpg

Not because it is a one-off. I believe that there are likely other examples of PMC Wagner Group images (both their official logo and sledge hammer images) being used as images for musical acts on Tidal.

I believe that it would be wise for tidal to:

Remove the Вика Цыганова song called “Русская классика (Вагнер 3)” from Tidal due to the image being in violation of Tidal’s Terms and Conditions of Use.

Develop a plan to proactively catalog and remove user uploaded content that advocates for the PMC Wagner Group — especially since this organization is on the verge of being labeled as a terrorist organization by the United States.

I know that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a complicated issue that would seem to be a world away from the world of streaming music services, but in this instance, it’s clearly an issue under Tidal’s domain.

I look forward to engaging in a conversation about this issue, or to directing you to others with more knowledge. Thanks again for your time.

-Robby Delaware

TIDAL considered my complaint and took action!

Here’s a screenshot of their reply:

TIDAL response to my message about a problematic image that promoted Russian violence in Ukraine.

One small win. I am hopeful that this — focusing on an image instead of lyrics — on the purpose and intent of the image — will be helpful in future attempts at content moderation.

I believe that we’re heading down a path where, for once, certain pro-Kremlin propaganda material will fall under the auspices of 18 USC 2339B.

I’ve reached out to Apple Music, to Spotify, to Amazon. I’ve got some other ideas about this as well. I’ll let you know what happens.

Слава Україні! God Bless America.