270 Doctors Ask Spotify To Seriously Fight COVID-19 Misinformation

JAKARTA - Spotify is facing heavy criticism in its application. Where doctors, health experts and scientists are asking the company to also fight COVID-19 misinformation on its platforms.

A total of 270 doctors, nurses, scientists and educators have sent an open letter to Spotify following the latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast asking the company to adopt clear policies and fulfill its responsibilities to reduce the spread of misinformation.

On the December 31, 2021 episode of his podcast, Joe Rogan interviewed Dr. Robert Malone, a virologist who says he is one of the creators of mRNA technology.

Dr. Claims Malone has not confirmed the truth. During the chat, Dr. Malone made unsubstantiated claims about COVID-19, including the idea that the mass formation of psychosis led people to believe the vaccine was effective, and the idea that US President Joe Biden had withheld data supporting ivermectin as a valid treatment.

It didn't take long for this episode to go viral among critics and fans alike, as Rogan averaged over 10 million listeners per episode.

"By allowing the dissemination of false and socially harmful statements, Spotify is enabling the media it hosts to undermine public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in the credibility of the data-driven guidance offered by medical professionals," the letter said.

"(The episode) was not the only breach that occurred on the Spotify platform, but a relevant example of the platform's failure to mitigate the damage it caused."

The Verge reported in April last year that Spotify was also unresponsive to an episode of Rogan in which it encouraged a 21-year-old not to get vaccinated. A source from the company stated that the message could not be claimed to be anti-vaccine, and Rogan made no call to action.

The company has previously said that it has banned content on the platform that promotes harmful false, deceptive or misleading content about COVID-19 that could cause harm offline and or pose a direct threat to public health.

However, as this open letter shows, Spotify does not have an official misinformation policy like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others.

The group asked the platform to do just that, rather than directly taking action against Rogan or removing the episode in question. They want companies to establish rules that will hold podcast creators accountable for the content of their shows.

Spotify paid $100 million for The Joe Rogan Experience show as an exclusive podcast in 2020. The show is the most popular on the platform in 2021, both in the US and globally.

For information, unlike Spotify, YouTube has deleted the interview video that contained Dr. Malone in it, and he was recently also banned from Twitter for violating the platform's COVID-19 misinformation policy.

Every day, platforms like Facebook and Twitter have adopted policies in an effort to reduce the rampant false claims, but some have no rules.