#1ed760: How green is Spotify? The importance of reporting for democratic and sustainable digitalisation

Sammanfattning: Internet services can aid steps towards sustainability, but can also be a means of exploitation and power-ownership. Data centres are an intrinsic part of this system, but reporting regulations do not require full disclosure on them. This paper takes the position that incomplete or misleading reporting is a form of delay discourse. Using the case study of Spotify, a structured literature review was conducted, and Lamb et al’s delay discourse framework applied to analyse reporting. A discrepancy was found between actual and reported sustainability impacts, specifically for water use. Another delay discourse category was therefore suggested, ‘Doing our part’, the idea that an acknowledgment of climate change can hide other sustainability impacts. This paper suggests further investigation and regulation for sustainability reporting are necessary for a democratic future for digitalisation, especially relevant due to changes in reporting standards under development.