Bailey Aldridge, The Charlotte Observer (TNS)
Hundreds of medical experts have signed a letter urging Spotify to address COVID-19 misinformation on its platform, singling out Joe Rogan’s popular podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
The letter highlights an episode of the podcast that aired Dec. 31 and featured Dr. Robert Malone, who Twitter says it suspended from the social media platform over COVID-19 misinformation. The letter said that Malone used the episode to “further promote numerous baseless claims” about the coronavirus, including the COVID-19 vaccines.
The letter said Malone has spread baseless claims that the government “hypnotized” the public and has compared pandemic-related policies to the Holocaust.
“These actions are not only objectionable and offensive, but also medically and culturally dangerous,” the letter said.
The letter went on to say Malone’s interview on Rogan’s podcast has “reached many tens of millions of listeners vulnerable to predatory medical misinformation.”
Rogan’s show is the top podcast streamed on Spotify. McClatchy News has reached out to both Spotify and Rogan for comment.
The letter said that “mass-misinformation events” have “extraordinarily dangerous ramifications.”
“As scientists, we face backlash and resistance as the public grows to distrust our research and expertise. As educators and science communicators, we are tasked with repairing the public’s damaged understanding of science and medicine. As physicians, we bear the arduous weight of a pandemic that has stretched our medical systems to their limits and only stands to be exacerbated by the anti-vaccination sentiment woven into this and other episodes of Rogan’s podcast,” the letter said.
But the letter — signed by 270 medical experts — said that episode is not the only “transgression to occur on the Spotify platform,” which Rolling Stone reports has exclusive streaming rights to Rogan’s podcast.
“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,” the letter said.
The letter ended by calling on Spotify to “immediately establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform.”
“This is not only a scientific or medical concern; it is a sociological issue of devastating proportions and Spotify is responsible for allowing this activity to thrive on its platform,” the group wrote.
Spotify does not seem to have a clear policy on misinformation, Rolling Stone reports. But in April, the company said in a statement to The Verge that it “prohibits content on the platform which promotes dangerous false, deceptive, or misleading content about COVID-19 that may cause offline harm and/or pose a direct threat to public health. When content that violates this standard is identified it is removed from the platform.”
Rogan has a history of making false or controversial claims about the coronavirus.
During an episode of his podcast in April, he said he would advise a healthy young person to not get vaccinated against COVID-19, McClatchy News previously reported. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, said the claims surrounding the vaccine and young people were incorrect.
Following pushback to his vaccine comments, Rogan said he’s “not an anti-vaxx person,” according to CNN.
“In fact, I said I believe they’re safe and I encourage many people to take them,” he said. “My parents were vaccinated. I just said I don’t think if you’re a young healthy person you need it.”
Fauci said healthy young people should “absolutely” get the vaccine.
Rogan said in September that when he got COVID-19, he took ivermectin, a drug that the Food and Drug Administration advised against using to treat the coronavirus. The drug is used to treat diseases like river blindness and scabies in humans and to treat heartworm disease and other infestations in animals, McClatchy reported.
Timothy Caulfield, a professor of health law and science at the University of Alberta, wrote on Twitter that the letter is “so needed,” saying it “starts with #JoeRogan.”
Some of the experts who signed the letter also commented on Twitter.
“Proud to have signed this,” one tweeted. “@Spotify, you need a ‘clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on your platform.’ That starts with Joe Rogan.”
“I signed this letter, but I don’t think it will make a difference. Bringing in $ is all that matters,” another wrote.