Podcasts that claim the pandemic isn’t real and that vaccines are intended to kill people, will be removed from Spotify.
It’s part of the platform's plan to combat misinformation in the wake of a controversial podcast by Joe Rogan.
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Joe Rogan there, host of the biggest podcast on earth and a well known vaccine sceptic.
Today, he’s apologising for interviewing Dr Peter McCullagh in a recent episode.
There the discredited expert claimed the pandemic was planned.
Young Says Goodbye
Last week Neil Young told Spotify to remove the episode or he’ll pull his music from the platform.
Spotfiy sided with Joe Rogan.
Technology Editor with the Irish Independent Adrian Weckler explains why:
"None of the really big guns, the likes of Taylor Swift, Adele, Ed Sheeran or Beyonce have left the platform."
"That means Spotify aren't really losing out."
My dad is going to be furious. He’s a lifelong Spotify user that specifically loves Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. This is not a joke.
— Ben Natan (@thebennatan) January 29, 2022
Publisher Or Host?
Spotify has pulled over 20,000 podcasts for misinformation, but not one episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience”.
CEO of real-time media monitoring platform NewsWhip Paul Quigley says Spotify is walking the line between publisher and host:
"They've got some of the platform-publisher responsibilities."
"But they still need to be able to provide a service where you can listen to the things you want to listen to."
Lister Advisories will now play before every episode that discusses the pandemic.
