The biggest music streaming platform in the world Spotify has decided to remove Neil Young’s music rather than removing Rogan’s podcast. Spotify initially refused to appease the authoritarian censors as they come up with their decision to choose Rogan over Young.
An open letter was posted by Young to his manager earlier this week that’s asking them to remove music from the platform if Spotify won’t censor Joe Rogan’s podcast. According to Young, Joe Rogan’s podcast, which is hosted by Spotify, was spreading false claims about Covid-19 vaccines and the company has a responsibility to “mitigate the spread of misinformation” on its platform.
Here’s an excerpt from The Epoch Times Report:
Spotify will be adding content advisories to podcast episodes in an effort to combat misinformation about COVID-19, the company’s chief executive officer, Daniel Ek has announced.
In a blog post published on Jan. 30, the Swedish audio streaming service said it was “working to add a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes a discussion about COVID-19.”
The planned advisory comes shortly after Spotify removed Neil Young’s music from the site when the singer accused podcaster Joe Rogan of spreading false information about coronavirus vaccines and “potentially causing death.”
After giving the company an ultimatum between getting rid of Rogan, who hosts Spotify’s top-rated podcast, or him, Spotify announced on Jan. 27 that it would remove Young’s songs from its service.
In Sunday’s blog post, Spotify said that when implemented, its new advisory will direct listeners to a COVID hub where they can find “data-driven facts” and “up-to-date information” from scientists, physicians, academics public health authorities, and other “trusted sources.”
Currently, the COVID hub contains podcasts from sources such as the BBC, Politico, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and other mainstream media sources.
Spotify said the new content advisory will be rolled out to users across the world within the coming days and “is the first of its kind by a major podcast platform.”
Spotify also created harsher rules against spreading Covid-19 ‘misinformation’.
“Elsewhere in Sunday’s blog post, Spotify said it was also publishing existing platform rules which will help creators understand how Spotify assesses all content on its platform.
After Spotify removed him from the platform, he doesn’t seem to be too upset that Spotify isn’t siding with him, though.
Sources: 100 Percent Fed Up, The Epoch Times, Cheatsheet, Silicon Republic
