Spotify made headlines this week as it removed rockstar Neil Young’s music from its platform after he demanded that they either censor Joe Rogan or get rid of his content. Spotify initially refused to appease the authoritarian censors, and removed Young’s music rather than cracking down on Rogan. Yesterday, Spotify announced a change to its Covid-19 ‘misinformation policies’, including a fact check of all Covid related podcasts and harsher policies against content that goes against Covid orthodoxy. The Epoch Times Reports–
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.
Under the newly-published rules, creators, including musicians and podcasters, are 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.”
