Would James Blunt’s threats have paid off? Or would that be Meghan and Harry’s warning? Faced with numerous criticisms from personalities and calls for a boycott, Spotify announced on Sunday that it was tackling the problem of misinformation that Joe Rogan’s podcast raised.
The world number one in music streaming will in particular introduce links in all its podcasts evoking the Covid, which will guide its users to factual and scientifically sourced information, announced its CEO and founder Daniel Ek.
The rules of use made public
“Based on the feedback we have had over the past few weeks, it has become clear to me that we have an obligation to do more to provide balance and access to widely accepted information from the medical and scientific communities,” said the Swedish billionaire said in a statement. “This new effort to combat disinformation will be launched in countries around the world in the coming days. To our knowledge, these content tips are a first for a major podcast platform.
Spotify also released its rules of use on Sunday and says it is “testing ways” to better signal to podcast creators “what is acceptable”, without openly discussing any sanctions measures.
The issue of platform liability
The announcement follows a growing controversy instigated by American-Canadian Neil Young, who this week announced the withdrawal of his music from the Swedish platform if it did not give up hosting the podcast of controversial but widely listened to American host Joe Rogan. . The latter is accused of having discouraged vaccination among young people and of having pushed for the use of an unauthorized treatment, ivermectin, against the coronavirus.
An online movement to unsubscribe from the platform had been launched on social networks, and country singer Joni Mitchell had in turn announced her withdrawal from Spotify on Friday. The controversy had also raised the debate on the new responsibilities of streaming platforms on disinformation, like the measures taken by social networks like Facebook in recent years.