Spotify plans to add advisory warnings to podcasts that discuss covid-19. Speaking yesterday, CEO Daniel Ek said that the new warning will redirect users to a data hub of coronavirus facts.
The streaming giant has been criticised over its relationship with Joe Rogan, who has hosted vaccine sceptics on his podcast.
Last week, the musicians Neil Young and Joni Mitchell told Spotify to remove Rogan’s content or they would take their music off the platform. According to the BBC:
In a statement posted to Spotify’s website, Mr Ek wrote that it has “become clear to me that we have an obligation to do more to provide balance and access to widely-accepted information from the medical and scientific communities guiding us through this unprecedented time”.
Mr Ek said that the company had on Sunday published its long-standing “Platform Rules” – guidelines for creators on which content is considered unacceptable.
They were developed by the company in conjunction with a team of external experts and are updated regularly, the Swedish billionaire said.
The rules say that creators should avoid content that “promotes dangerous false or dangerous deceptive medical information that may cause offline harm or poses a direct threat to public health”.
These include suggesting that Covid-19 or other diseases are not real and encouraging people to deliberately get infected with coronavirus in order to build immunity.
Content which breaks the rules could be removed, and repeated violations could lead to an account being taken down.
In recent weeks the company has come under scrutiny over the views of its star host, Joe Rogan, who agreed a $100 million deal to move his popular podcast exclusively onto the platform in late 2020.
Mr Rogan has discouraged vaccination in young people and promoted the use of the unproven anti-parasitic drug ivermectin to treat the virus.
Last night, Rogan apologised to Spotify for the controversy and promised he would “try to do better.” In a video posted to Instagram on Sunday night, he pledged to “try harder to get people with differing opinions on” and “do my best to make sure I’ve researched these topics”. Rogan also reiterated that in his opinion the jabs are “safe.”
Spotify has been censoring podcasts since the beginning of the scamdemic, none more so than The Richie Allen Show. You might remember that an employee of the company reached out to me in mid-2020 to confirm that Spotify had assigned someone to monitor the show and to cut out segments where the virus or vaccines were discussed.
The podcast of the live show averages 1 hour 48 minutes after I’ve edited out the music. You wouldn’t know that if you scroll through the episodes on Spotify. It’s not uncommon for 60 or 70 minutes to be cut. It’s disgusting, but there’s nothing I can do about it.
Joe Rogan is nothing more than mainstream light. It ain’t him they’re after, believe me.
They’re coming for the real independent media. I’ve been banging on about it for years. They want to make it impossible for someone like me to operate online. Why are they so concerned about The Richie Allen Show?
I interview scientists, academics and doctors who are ignored by the legacy media because they dare to challenge the official narrative on covid, healthcare, climate change and other agendas. That won’t do.
This is a big year for the independent media. I’ve written and spoken many times of the UK Online Harms Bill. The government wants to criminalise misinformation, or in other words, information it would rather you didn’t receive.
It’s the fight of our lives.
