RadioPublic
Address: 
79 Walker St, New York, NY 10013, USA
RadioPublic offers free tools to help podcasters grow, like podsites and listener tipping tools.
Website: radiopublic.com
Owned by: Acast
Latest news
- Feb 1: RadioPublic is to close at the end of March. The public benefit corporation launched in 2016, asking podcasters to support an investment round in 2018. It offered podcast websites and had a listening app. After it was bought by Acast in Feb 2021, our news archives show the disappointing story of what happened next. OP3 reports it currently has a 0.003% share of podcast downloads.
- Dec 7, 2022: RadioPublic Pro is to discontinue. For $12/month, the product offered enhanced podcast websites, an enhanced embedded player, and a tipping service. The free service RadioPublic Basic will continue; the company has been owned by Acast since Feb 2021.
- Jun 24, 2022: In an email, RadioPublic says it is updating its privacy policy to accurately note that the service is now owned by Acast. On Mar 11, it quietly restored its earlier privacy policy after we reported that it had been entirely deleted; on June 14 the company amended RadioPublic's website after we reported it was misleadingly claiming that it still had Public Benefit Corporation status. RadioPublic has sent unsolicited commercial email on behalf of Acast, emails now fixed after we reported some were non-compliant. RadioPublic's original policy stated that it would notify users beforehand if the company was merged or taken-over by another: but this promise was not kept.
- Jun 14, 2022: Acast has been misleadingly claiming that one of its companies has Public Benefit Corporation status: that means legally-defined goals for positive impact on society, workers, the community and the environment. The website for RadioPublic, a company Acast bought in February 2021, includes a seal claiming it's a "public benefit corporation", while its privacy policy starts with a similar claim. Yet, RadioPublic PBC ceased to exist on Dec 31 2021 when its registration was revoked after failing to file; and RadioPublic's new owner, Acast, has no such legal status. Acast used the RadioPublic user database in February this year to send unsolicited commercial emails.
- Mar 11, 2022: RadioPublic, which was also sending out Acast promotional spam, has had its privacy page quietly restored again, after we reported it was missing. However, it dates from 2016, is authored by Jake Shapiro (who left RadioPublic to join Apple two years ago), and claims "If we merge with another company such that your information will become subject to a different privacy policy, we’ll notify you before the transfer. You can opt out of the new policy by deleting your account during the notice period". The last email from RadioPublic to its users was a full year before Acast bought RadioPublic's assets a year ago; we've asked Acast for details about how the promised notification happened.
Data credits: Google Maps, Podnews newsletter