Spotify commits to doing more to mitigate COVID-19 misinformation
Global audio streaming service Spotify has addressed growing concerns about its approach to COVID-19 misinformation, following significant backlash from the platforms creators and listeners in light of its ongoing support of divisive podcast host, and known anti-vaxxer Joe Rogan.
Rogan’s podcast ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ was made a Spotify exclusive in September 2020, following a deal worth a reported US$100 million. Despite Rogan’s controversial views regarding COVID-19, the podcast remains the platform’s most popular podcast globally, topping Australia’s Spotify Wrapped charts in December 2021.
The platform has since received ongoing criticism for its lack of action on the COVID-19 misinformation front. Spotify’s soft-handed approach to the issue has seen it fall behind other leading platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok, all of which were signatories to the Digital Industry Group code of practice, which commits to reducing the spread of harmful online misinformation and disinformation in Australia.
Spotify’s co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek took to the company’s website to address the platform’s approach to COVID-19, saying that the brand understood the importance of “supporting creator expression while balancing it with the safety of our users”, but did not feel it was Spotify’s role to censor content.
“You’ve had a lot of questions over the last few days about our platform policies and the lines we have drawn between what is acceptable and what is not. We have had rules in place for many years but admittedly, we haven’t been transparent around the policies that guide our content more broadly. This, in turn, led to questions around their application to serious issues including COVID-19,” said Ek.
“Based on the feedback over the last several weeks, it’s 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. These issues are incredibly complex.”
Spotify co-founder and CEO, Daniel Ek.
The release goes on to outline a number of new steps Spotify will take, with the advice of the scientific and medical communities, to ensure they are sufficiently regulating content regarding COVID-19.
The changes, which will extend on the COVID-19 Information Hub launched on the platform earlier in the pandemic, include the publication of internal Platform Rules that have been a long-standing guide for creators; the addition of a content advisory to podcast episodes that discuss COVID-19, linking back to the COVID-1 Information Hub; and the promotion of Platform Rules to creators to help them understand their accountability for their content.
“I trust our policies, the research and expertise that inform their development, and our aspiration to apply them in a way that allows for broad debate and discussion, within the lines. We take this seriously and will continue to partner with experts and invest heavily in our platform functionality and product capabilities for the benefit of creators and listeners alike. That doesn’t mean that we always get it right, but we are committed to learning, growing and evolving,” Ek concluded.
The announcement comes in the wake of an open letter published by Neil Young to his website, giving the platform an ultimatum to remove Joe Rogan’s content, or remove his own music catalogue from the platform.
“They can have Rogan or Young. Not both,” Young wrote, in the post which has since been removed.
Young’s stance sparked further criticism of Spotify’s stance, with Joni Mitchell one of many artists who also chose to remove their music from the platform in solidarity.
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