White House Speaks Up About Spotify's Steps To Fight COVID-19 Misinformation

Spotify plans to add a content guide to every podcast about COVID-19 on its platform. (photo: doc. spotify)

JAKARTA - Not long ago Spotify planned to add a content guide to every podcast about COVID-19 on its platform, and this was welcomed by the White House, United States (US).

However, the White House asked Spotify not only to take that step, but the technology platform to do more to prevent the spread of misinformation about the coronavirus.

"Our hope is that all major technology platforms and all major news sources in this regard are responsible and vigilant to ensure that the American people have access to accurate information about something as significant as COVID-19," said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki in a statement. his statement to reporters, as quoted by Reuters, Wednesday, February 2.

"This disclaimer is a positive step, but we want each platform to continue to do more to prevent misinformation."

The Spotify case stems from a podcaster from the US, Joe Rogan presenting content that is full of controversial information regarding COVID-19 misinformation, including the vaccine on his show Joe Rogan Experience.

Rogan has come under fire from various medical parties including two world musicians and singers, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, who pulled their songs from Spotify in protest.

In response, Spotify's CEO, Daniel Ek, said the company will publish the old platform rules, to be more transparent about policies governing content on the platform more broadly.

"Personally, there are many views on Spotify that I strongly disagree with. It's important to me that we don't take the position of censoring content while also ensuring that there are rules and consequences for those who violate them," Daniel said in his official post on Spotify's website.

Daniel went on to explain how each podcast episode about COVID-19 will now be accompanied by a content advisor.

This guide will direct listeners to our dedicated COVID-19 Center, a resource that provides easy access to data-driven facts, up-to-date information shared by scientists, doctors, academics and public health authorities around the world, and links to resources. trusted," said Daniel.

The company will also start publishing its platform rules, which are developed by an internal team together with a number of outside experts and updated regularly.

Later, the rules will tell contributors not to promote harmful, deceptive, sensitive, or illegal content on Spotify. Not only that, content that violates the rules can be removed from Spotify.

“The company will start testing ways to highlight our platform rules in our creator and publisher tools to raise awareness of what is acceptable and help creators understand their accountability for the content they post on our platform,” explains Daniel.