Music streaming platform Spotify has announced new initiatives to contain coronavirus disinformation and strengthen its policies on content that could be dangerous or deceptive to users. The announcement came in response to criticism from Canadian singers Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, who in recent days had asked for their songs to be removed from the platform and accused her of spreading false information about coronavirus vaccines through some of her podcasts.
In a statement shared on Spotify's website, CEO Daniel Ek said the company “has a duty to do more” to ensure greater balance and access to information that is widely shared by the medical and scientific community. For this, Spotify will insert new alerts that will appear before the podcasts dealing with coronavirus and will refer to a dedicated page with information and verified content on the pandemic.
Ek said the company is looking for new ways to make the platform's rules even clearer to authors, which prohibit sharing false or misleading medical information that “could be a direct threat to public health.” These initiatives should serve to better understand what content is appropriate and acceptable for the platform and the responsibilities of those who disseminate them.
Last week Young had asked and obtained permission to remove all of his music from Spotify, disputing the fact that it was also hosting the podcast The Joe Rogan Experience by the American Joe Rogan, one of the most famous podcast authors in the world. In the past Rogan had expressed skeptical positions on vaccines and promoted conspiracy theories and discredited alternative treatments, also inviting as guests an antivaccinist doctor and the controversial virologist Robert Malone, according to whom American hospitals had received “economic incentives” to diagnose false deaths from COVID -19.
Young said Spotify was spreading “false information about vaccines, potentially causing the death of those who believe in misinformation” it was helping to spread.
The protests were then joined by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, who in turn asked for her music to be removed from Spotify. Prince Harry of the United Kingdom and his wife Meghan Markle also said they were concerned about Spotify's role in disinformation against the coronavirus, as they had already done a few months ago; however, they added that they want to continue working with the company on their podcast, “Archewell Audio”, produced exclusively for the platform.
On Sunday, just hours after Spotify's announcement, Rogan apologized to the company, which got caught up in the misinformation allegations over its podcast. In a video shared on Instagram, he said he didn't want to disinform, but that he was interested in hearing the opinion of “highly qualified medical experts who have an opinion different from that of mainstream discourse”.
