Joe Rogan, the presenter of The Joe Rogan Experience, is undoubtedly one of the most popular podcasters in the world.
Despite his celebrity status, Rogan has already been criticized for distributing false information about the COVID-19 vaccination. Spotify announced the formation of a “Spotify Safety Advisory Council” to address situations like this in the future.
The Joe Rogan Experience, Joe Rogan’s podcast, had its beginnings on YouTube. It was an instant hit because the podcast was unique and thought-provoking. The Joe Rogan Experience went on to become one of the most popular podcasts in the world.
Rogan stated on Instagram in May 2020 that his podcast will be moving to Spotify on September 1, 2020. Rogan would continue to post clips from the podcast on his YouTube channel. However, entire episodes would only be available only on Spotify.
On December 31, Dr. Robert Malone, a virologist, promoted various incorrect views in an episode of Rogan’s podcast. The episode included the assertion that vaccination success is due to “mass formation psychosis.”
The virologist was previously banned from Twitter for distributing Covid-19 misinformation. Over 270 physicians signed an open letter to Spotify responding to the episode, calling the Joe Rogan Experience a “menace to public health”.
The letter said: “By allowing the propagation of false and societally harmful assertions, Spotify is enabling its hosted media to damage public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in the credibility of data-driven guidance offered by medical professionals.”
Due to this ongoing Joe Rogan controversy, Spotify announced yesterday on its website that it has launched a new initiative. Spotify has created a safety council to address misinformation and inappropriate content.
The main goal of the safety advisory council is to make judgments on content moderation and to put rules in place to aid with it.
The corporation also wrote, “Council members will not make enforcement decisions about specific content or creators.” This implies that the firm’s judgement on a particular creator or incident cannot be appealed. Rather, the council will provide comments to Spotify in order to help define its policy.