Following criticism from rock and folk stars for giving voice to misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines, Spotify CEO said that every podcast episode including debates over COVID-19 will include a content alert. The action comes on the heels of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell’s statement that they will withdraw their music from Spotify in protest of the popular streaming service facilitating the propagation of misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.
The popular music streaming service Spotify via its blog post revealed about adding a “content advisory” to any podcast episode that includes discussion about COVID-19. In the following days, this new initiative to battle disinformation will be sent out to nations throughout the world. The company further added that this is the first content alert issued by a major podcast platform.
“We are working to add a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes a discussion about COVID-19. This advisory will direct listeners to our dedicated COVID-19 Hub, a resource 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. This new effort to combat misinformation will roll out to countries around the world in the coming days. To our knowledge, this content advisory is the first of its kind by a major podcast platform,” Spotify noted in its blog post.
In addition to this Spotify will also begin testing methods to emphasise its Platform Rules in its creator and publisher tools in order to promote awareness about what is allowed and assist creators to understand their responsibilities for the material they upload on our platform. This is in addition to the agreements under which authors and publishers agree to utilise Spotify’s services.
The renowned singer Neil Young sent an open letter accusing Spotify of promoting erroneous information regarding vaccines – perhaps causing death by distributing Rogan’s podcast, which has millions of listeners. Rogan has advocated for the use of the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin to treat the virus in youngsters outside of its approved use.
“I realised I could not continue to support Spotify’s life-threatening misinformation to the music-loving public,” his published letter stated.
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I am a musician and have been using Spotify for about many years. I have always had issues with music on the site. I was looking at my music library one day and noticed that there were no advisory labels on any of my playlists or albums. This is bad news because it means anyone can listen to what they want, without warning you first of explicit content in your playlist or album artwork which might not be appropriate for children to see while playing their favorite song!