Spotify Publishes Content Policy, Covid-19 Hub in Response to Joe Rogan Controversy
“We know we have a critical role to play in supporting creator expression while balancing it with the safety of our users,” said Chief Executive Daniel Ek in a blog post Sunday. “In that role, 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.”
Spotify isn’t at this time removing any of Mr. Rogan’s episodes that detractors have highlighted in recent weeks as spreading what they deem misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines.
The new transparency marks a step in Spotify’s evolution as a media company after diving into podcasting as a key offering to expand beyond music and become more profitable. The company’s response shows a commitment to open dialogue as it stays resolute about keeping its lucrative relationship with Mr. Rogan but needs to assuage the creators it relies on as it seeks to dominate across both music and podcasts.
Folk-rocker Neil Young last week kicked off a groundswell of protest against Spotify after he took down his music from the service and accused Joe Rogan of spreading misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines. “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both,” Mr. Young wrote in a letter he posted on his website. Spotify struck a deal with Mr. Rogan in 2020 worth more than $100 million, according to people familiar with the matter.
Musician Joni Mitchell said she decided to remove her music from Spotify in support of Neil Young’s protest.
Photo: Reuters
Since then, folk singer Joni Mitchell and rocker Nils Lofgren have joined him in removing their music, they said. Podcaster and professor Brené Brown said she wouldn’t produce more for the service “until further notice,” and Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, said co-founders at its Archewell Productions last April began expressing concerns to Spotify “about the all too real consequences of Covid-19 misinformation on its platform.”
Mr. Young didn’t respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
Thousands of listeners took to social media with the hashtag #DeleteSpotify and #DeletedSpotify, claiming they have unsubscribed to the streaming service.
Spotify on Sunday acknowledged the feedback it has been getting from creators and listeners and said it wanted to be more clear about its policies, which it has not changed.
“We haven’t been transparent around the policies that guide our content more broadly,” said Mr. Ek in the post. “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.”
Podcaster Brené Brown has said she wouldn’t produce more content for the streaming service ‘until further notice.’
Photo: Jack Plunkett/Invision/Associated Press
As of Sunday, Spotify is beginning to tag Covid-19-related content with an advisory prompting users to check out the service’s new “hub for data-driven facts and up-to-date information” from the health and scientific communities.
Mr. Young in his initial letter cited an episode of Mr. Rogan’s podcast in which the podcaster spoke with Dr. Robert Malone, a virologist who worked on research into several mRNA Covid-19 vaccines but who is now critical of the treatments. Among the claims made was the suggestion that hospitals have been financially motivated to falsely determine that deaths had been caused by Covid-19.
Earlier this month, a group of 270 scientists and healthcare professionals signed an open letter to Spotify accusing the podcast of “promoting baseless conspiracy theories” and asking the service to take action against mass-misinformation events on its platform.
While more than 40 of Mr. Rogan’s episodes have been previously removed for policy violations, none of them have been related to the pandemic, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Mr. Young has since posted more on the topic, encouraging other artists to join him and steering his listeners to other music streaming platforms.
Keith Tate, a fan of Mr. Young and Ms. Mitchell, canceled his Spotify subscription. The 65-year-old from Houston said his son added him to his YouTube music account. “Works great and Neil Young is there and Joe Rogan is not,” he said.
Mr. Tate owns a company that manufactures high-end basketball equipment, where he hasn’t mandated but encouraged employees to get the Covid-19 vaccines.
“It was amazing how much disinformation there was,” he said. “It took quite a bit of encouragement. I think they all were looking for honest information.”
Mr. Tate said every person in his company is fully vaccinated and boosted now.
Spotify’s Mr. Ek said there are opinions on both sides of any issue and that he personally disagrees with plenty of individuals and views on Spotify.
“To our very core, we believe that listening is everything,” he said.
Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, has a content partnership with Gimlet Media, a unit of Spotify.
The Unfolding of the Spotify Controversy
More coverage of artists pulling their music from the streaming service, selected by the editors
Write to Anne Steele at Anne.Steele@wsj.com
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