Following the decision of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell to withdraw their music from Spotify, citing misinformation about the coronavirus spreading from Joe Rogan's podcast on the platform, the CEO of the streaming service, Daniel Ek, issued a statement regarding the ways in which the company intends to respond to the reactions.
Daniel Ek outlined the company plans to take to combat COVID-19 misinformation, which is largely focused on a plan to add content tagging to each podcast episode that includes discussions about COVID -19.
"This highlight will direct listeners to our dedicated COVID-19 hub, a resource that provides easy access to data-based facts, up-to-date information shared by scientists, doctors, academics and public health authorities around the world. , as well as links to reliable sources ", it is reported.
"This new effort to combat misinformation will be extended to countries around the world in the coming days. "As far as we know, this content tagging is the first of its kind from a large podcast platform."
The announcement also notes that the company has for the first time made the existing rules of its platform transparent and that they are available to the public.
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The rules describe what may not be posted on Spotify, including "content that promotes dangerously false or dangerously misleading medical information that could harm the Internet or pose an immediate threat to public health."
Examples include claims that COVID-19 is "fraudulent" or "not true" or "encouraging people to intentionally become infected with COVID-19 in order to gain immunity". Violators of the policy risk having their content removed while those who engage in repeated infringements risk having their account suspended or blocked.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have signed a $ 25 million podcast deal with Spotify. The Archewell Foundation issued a statement condemning the "unbridled misinformation" spread on the platform, BBC News reports.
The statement said: "Last April, our co-founders began to express their concerns to our Spotify partners about the very important implications of misinformation about COVID-19 on its platform."
"We have continued to express our concerns to Spotify to ensure that changes are made to its platform to help address this health crisis. "We expect Spotify to respond to this situation and we are determined to continue our collaboration as this happens."
Joe Rogan responded to the wave of artists leaving Spotify with a video he posted on his Instagram account, saying he was not "angry" with Neil Young and Joni Mitchell and that he was "definitely open" to hosting "more experts with different views immediately after the presentation of the controversial views ".
