Spotify Unveils New Plans to Deal With 'Misinformation' After Joe Rogan Flap
Streaming service Spotify has been at the center of a fairly major media controversy over the course of the last several weeks, forcing the platform to make some heavy duty adjustments to the way that they operate.
The issue came to a head just a few days ago after Neil Young requested that his music be pulled from the service on account of Joe Rogan’s stance on COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.
Now, with Young gone and other artists beginning to follow suit, Spotify is rolling out some new rules and redirections aimed at combatting what they are calling “misinformation”.
Spotify is adding a message that will direct listeners to correct Covid-19 information as controversy over misinformation shared on Joe Rogan’s podcast continues to grow, with the streamer losing billions in market value and more musicians withdrawing their music.
On Sunday, the CEO of Spotify, Daniel Ek, released an official statement setting out the streaming platform’s plan to tackle misinformation. New content advisories will direct listeners of any podcast that discusses coronavirus to a dedicated website that “provides easy access to data-driven facts, up-to-date information as shared by scientists, physicians, academics and public health authorities around the world, as well as links to trusted sources”.
The service also posted their creator rules publicly.
potify’s rules for its creators have also been made public for the first time, with users told they cannot publish “content that promotes dangerous false or dangerous deceptive medical information that may cause offline harm or poses a direct threat to public health”.
Advertisement - story continues belowExamples include calling Covid “a hoax or not real” or “encouraging people to purposely get infected with Covid-19 in order to build immunity to it”. Users who break the rule could see their content removed from the platform and repeat offenders could be suspended or banned.
Rogan is one of the most popular podcasters in the world, and Spotify had to shell out a massive amount of cash to bring his show to their service.
