Spotify Responds to Misinformation Accusations

📝 The streaming platform is publishing its content policy and creating a dedicated hub for Covid information in response to several artists who’ve spoken out against what they characterize as misinformation discussed on The Joe Rogan Experience.

• In a blog post, CEO Daniel Ek said the company would publish its previously internal-eyes-only platform rules and add content advisories on any podcast episode that discusses the pandemic, which will direct listeners to its new COVID-19 Hub featuring “easy access to data-driven facts [and] up-to-date information.”
• Over the weekend, folk singer Joni Mitchell and rocker Nils Lofgren joined Neil Young in removing their music from the platform “because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines.”
• Podcaster Brené Brown also said she wouldn’t produce more content for the service “until further notice,” though she didn’t specify why.
• The musicians cited an open letter signed by 270 scientists and healthcare professionals accusing the JRE of “promoting baseless conspiracy theories” in a recent episode with Dr. Robert Malone – a “virologist who worked on research into several mRNA Covid-19 vaccines but who is now critical of the treatments,” per the WSJ.
• Spotify, which signed a $100+ million exclusive deal with Rogan in 2020, reportedly said in an internal memo that it reviewed multiple controversial JRE episodes and determined they “didn’t meet the threshold for removal.”