The case Joe Rogan continues to be talked about on Spotify. The music and podcast streaming service continues to come under fire after the events of the last week, when legendary artists such as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell announced their departure from the service in protest at the growing controversy surrounding the famous podcaster and the spread of false information. about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines.
However, the discontent has not ended there. Now, a scientific podcast that is part of Spotify's original catalog has raised eyebrows to deny any misinformation that arises from within the platform itself. It is Science Vs, a proposal directed and produced by Wendy Zukerman, who made her uneasiness public through an email sent to Daniel Ek, CEO of the Swedish company.
“Spotify's support for the Joe Rogan podcast has felt like a slap in the face,” he said. The journalist even mentioned that for more than six months they encouraged their followers to switch to Spotify, telling them that the company supported them to “create factual episodes based on science.”
Science Vs is a podcast that was born within Gimlet Media and debuted in July 2016. When the production company was acquired by Spotify in 2019, the proposal became part of its original catalog. Therefore, Wendy Zuckerman's claim is not minor; after all, it also denounces that the company is not doing enough to prevent the disclosure of inaccurate information and that it poses a risk to the health of listeners.
As Science Vs will show in an upcoming episode, during Joe Rogan's interview with Dr. Robert Malone, information about vaccines is repeatedly taken out of context. There is a lot of scientific evidence that contradicts some of the claims in that interview, but it is not available in the episode. Rogan's show leaves the audience with a biased and imprecise look at COVID-19 vaccines. And Spotify has done little to address it.
A Spotify podcast that takes a look at The Joe Rogan Experience
After the discussion about the impact of Joe Rogan in spreading false information about the pandemic, Spotify announced new guidelines. However, internally they are not considered sufficient. “Until Spotify implements stronger methods to prevent the spread of misinformation, we will not make new episodes of Science Vs, except those whose objective is to counter the misinformation that is spread on Spotify,” Zuckerman said.
For now, after a few days of silence, Joe Rogan published a video in which he apologized mainly to Spotify; and assured that its purpose is not to misinform, but to offer the most varied points of view possible on a particular topic. “I'm not interested in just talking to people who have a perspective,” the podcaster mentioned.
Everything points to Spotify now having to find a way to balance the mood within its own platform. The company has said in the past that it believes it does not have editorial responsibility for its podcasts; however, it also stands to reason that he won't like it if his own original productions start to go against each other.
