Spotify agrees to add advisories on COVID 19 podcasts
Spotify, the Swedish audio streaming and media services provider, has stated that it will add advisories on podcasts on the COVID-19 subject. This is part of a damage-control campaign sparked by musician Neil Young, who called out the streaming service’s top podcaster for amplifying vaccine skepticism.
Spotify said it will soon add a warning before all podcasts that discuss COVID-19, directing listeners to factual, up-to-date information from scientists and public health experts. The company also sought to increase transparency about its publishing decisions by laying out the rules it uses to protect users’ safety.
Daniel Ek, CEO, Spotify, said there are “plenty of individuals and views on Spotify that I disagree with strongly.” He added: “It is important to me that we don’t take on the position of being content censor while also making sure that there are rules in place and consequences for those who violate them.”
Young had his music removed from Spotify last week after the company declined to get rid of episodes of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” which he criticised for spreading virus misinformation.
Rogan last month interviewed Dr. Robert Malone, an infectious disease specialist who has become a hero in the anti-vaccine community. Malone has been banned from Twitter for spreading COVID misinformation and has falsely suggested that millions of people have been hypnotized into believing that the vaccines work to prevent serious disease.
Rogan responded to the fallout on Sunday, saying in a video on Instagram that he was only seeking to have conversations on his podcast with people who have “differing opinions.”
“I’m not trying to promote misinformation, I’m not trying to be controversial,” Rogan said. “I’ve never tried to do anything with this podcast other than to just talk to people.”
He also said that he schedules the guests on his podcast himself and that he would try to book doctors with different opinions right after he talks to “the controversial ones.” Rogan said he earlier sat down on the show with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the chief medical correspondent for CNN, Dr. Michael Osterholm, who is a member of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board, and Dr. Peter Hotez from Baylor College of Medicine.
Following the development, hundreds of scientists, professors, and public health experts called on Spotify “to immediately establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform.” Their criticism focused on a Dec. 31 episode from “The Joe Rogan Experience” in which Rogan featured Dr. Robert Malone, an infectious-disease specialist who has been banned from Twitter for spreading COVID-19.
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