Spotify’s podcasts: next up for regulation discussion

Author Moonshot.news

Published on: 29/01/2022

Facebook has done it, Twitter has done it and music giant Spotify is now also facing a discussion on what can be said and what can’t be said on social media. Artists on Spotify demand to have an influence on what can be said on Spotify podcasts that is an increasingly important part of the company’s business that it has invested heavily in over the last few years.

Musician, singer and songwriter Neil Young and now also singer Joni Mitchell say that they don’t want to have their music on Spotify if the company allows podcast star Joe Rogan to continue having his podcasts on Spotify. Young said they can have him or Rogan, but not both. Young protested against controversial statements on the podcast about the value of mass vaccination against covid. Spotify has indirectly said the company prefers Rogan as they confirmed they are taking down Young’s music.

The company in a statement said that it has a detailed content policy and that more than 20 000 podcast items related to covid have been taken down since the start of the pandemic. “We regret Neil´s decision to remove his music from Spotify but hope to soon be able welcome him back”, the company said.

WHO´s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted his support for Young´s protest saying:

“ thanks for standing up against misinformation and inaccuracies around covid 19 vaccination. Public and private sector, in particular socialmedia platforms, media, individuals – we all have a role to play to end this pandemic and infodemic.”

.@NeilYoungNYA, thanks for standing up against misinformation and inaccuracies around #COVID19 vaccination.
Public and private sector, in particular #socialmedia platforms, media, individuals – we all have a role to play to end this pandemic and infodemic.https://t.co/kcFyIZQF7T

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 27, 2022

Tech journalist Sven Carlsson, who has co-authored a book about Spotify called “The Spotify Play”, estimates that Rogan is by far more important to Spotify than Neil Young.

“Joe Rogan is perhaps the most important person in Spotify’s content offers. By far more important than any artist”, he said in an interview with Swedish public service broadcaster SvT. Carlsson added that Spotify does not have a clear publishing policy.

“It is a bit unclear. In this case, the company has decided to act. The company says it has done so in other cases but what the rules for this are, we don´t really know. The company has not made them official”, the journalist said.

Young himself said he hoped that other artists would join him in his protest and now Joni Mitchell has done so: “Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives”, she wrote on her website adding that she is loyal with Young and with the “global scientific and medical communities”.

Young is American-Canadian and Mitchell is Canadian. They have both publicly said they have suffered from polio but recovered and that they were infected shortly before the vaccine against poli became available.

Spotify has so far made only one brief statement saying the company is removing Young’s music but it is likely that the discussion will continue and that the company will maybe be forced to be more clear about its publishing policy. Other social media companies have issued publishing policies and Facebook appointed its Oversight Board as a guide for controversial statements. The EU´s proposed digital services and markets acts are meant to let elected lawmakers set rules for harmful online information. The discussion about what can be said and what can’t will continue and so also the discussion about who should set the rules.