Spotify, the world’s most used streaming music and podcast platform, has been at the center of a debate over freedom of expression since late January, when Canadian singer Neil Young demanded that the Swedish company choose between keeping its music on the app or The Joe Rogan Experience program.
It is the most popular podcast in the United States, broadcast exclusively on the digital platform, after the company signed a $100 million contract with the creator in 2020.
Young argued that the show spreads misinformation about Covid-19, which had already been claimed by 270 American doctors and scientists who sent a letter to Spotify weeks ago, citing that the podcast would promote conspiracy theories about the coronavirus and non-vaccination.
Finally, the Swedish company sided with Rogan and deleted Young’s music, while other musicians, such as fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell, announced that they would withdraw their works from Spotify in protest against the podcast.
On Sunday, Spotify announced that it would include a content disclaimer about “any podcast episode that includes a discussion of Covid-19,” but was unwilling to break its contract with Rogan, despite pressure to do so.
The new notice, according to Spotify, will direct listeners to a “Covid-19 hub” so they can access “up-to-date, data-driven information shared by scientists, clinicians, researchers and public health officials from around the world.” the world, as well as links to reliable sources”.
The debate even reached the White House, whose spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, on Tuesday demanded additional measures from all apps.
“The warning (which Spotify will include) is a positive step, but we want all platforms to continue to do more to denounce misinformation and information manipulation, while promoting accurate information,” Psaki told a news conference.
Psaki said there are “16 times more likely to be hospitalized if not vaccinated” against Covid-19, and “68 times more likely to die than a person who has received a third dose.”
“This is quite significant, and we think it’s something that should certainly be the foundation of how people communicate about this issue,” he added.
Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, through a spokesperson for their foundation, Archewell, said this week that they had already expressed “concerns to our partners at Spotify about the very real consequences of misinformation about Covid-19 in their platform”, and called for action to “ensure that changes to their platform are made to help deal with this public health crisis”.
The statement from the couple, who have a multi-million-dollar contract to produce podcasts for Spotify, did not specifically mention Rogan’s show.
Spotify lost US$ 2.1 billion in market value after Neil Young’s ultimatum, but analysts pointed out that the company’s share price had already been falling, accumulating a 25% reduction before the withdrawal of the Canadian singer’s songs. , given investor fears that the platform’s growth may be slowing.
For researcher, left wants to silence “contrary allegations”
Joe Rogan himself released a video in which he defended the guests of his show and pointed out that he will seek to increase the scope of the podcast interviewees to bring more different points of view.
“You know, I do all the programming myself and I don’t always get it right. These podcasts are really weird because they’re just conversations. And I often have no idea what I’m going to say until I sit down and talk to people,” she reported.
“That’s why some of my ideas are not so prepared or concrete, because I formulate them literally in real time. But I do my best and it’s just conversations, and I think that’s also the appeal of the podcast. It’s one of the things that make it interesting,” he added.
For Alexandra De Sanctis, a researcher at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, the case reveals how progressives do not consider that consumers of content have the ability to filter information and draw their own conclusions.
“Thanks to this insultingly unfavorable opinion they have of the average American, leftists want to silence Rogan not because his views are unquestionably wrong or objectively dangerous, but because they want his ideas to reign supreme, and the easiest way to do that is to silence him. contrary allegations,” he wrote. in an article published by the National Review.
“If the mindless masses have access to the unorthodox ideas available on Rogan’s podcast, public health officials and experts mad about Covid-19 will have less power over their listeners’ beliefs and less influence over their behavior.”
#Spotify #scene #fight #freedom #expression #continues #grow