Spotify mum after Joe Rogan critics calls for change to prevent COVID ‘misinformation’ on platform

Spotify has not publicly addressed calls for change after liberal media outlets and a group of medical professionals urged the streaming platform to take action against what they call COVID-related "misinformation" sparked by podcasting giant Joe Rogan. 

Last week, a group of advocates, professors, scientists and medical professionals signed an open letter that asked Spotify to "take action against mass-misinformation events" on its platform after the "Joe Rogan Experience" (JRE) podcast irked the group with a "highly controversial episode" interview with Dr. Robert Malone. 

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"The episode has been criticized for promoting baseless conspiracy theories and the JRE has a concerning history of broadcasting misinformation, particularly regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. 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. "JRE #1757 is not the only transgression to occur on the Spotify platform, but a relevant example of the platform’s failure to mitigate the damage it is causing." 

The open letter blasted Rogan for pushing "misleading and false claims on his podcast, provoking distrust in science and medicine" during the ongoing COVID pandemic and noted that Dr. Malone has been suspended from Twitter for spreading misinformation about COVID.  

"With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE is the world’s largest podcast and has tremendous influence. Though Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, the company presently has no misinformation policy," said the letter, which received extensive media attention.

Rogan, whose wildly successful show is exclusive to Spotify, has become a target of the liberal media over the course of the pandemic. The Daily Beast recently enlisted a far-left advocate to declare Rogan was "mainstreaming right-wing information," while former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann last week called him the "stupidest f-----g guy on the planet." 

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CNN invited one of the health care professionals who signed the letter to amplify it on the network’s struggling morning show "New Day," where co-host Brianna Keilar mocked Rogan for "moving the goalposts" after he was fact-checked in real time by a recent guest. 

It was initially reported by several outlets that "270 doctors" signed the open letter to Spotify, but it has since been discovered that many signees are not medical doctors.

CNN has particularly feuded with Rogan; the two sides feuded when Rogan took ivermectin to tread COVID-19 and the liberal outlet ran the narrative that he had taken "horse dewormer" and a "livestock drug." Rogan fired back in an interview with CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta that his network was "lying" and Gupta conceded some of CNN's people had misspoken.

The fight continued when CNN fumed in a statement to the Washington Post that Rogan had undermined faith in effective vaccines, adding "the only thing CNN did wrong here was bruise the ego of a popular podcaster who pushed dangerous conspiracy theories." The Post's Wemple wrote at the time that the statement from CNN "sounds more like the work of an advocacy group than a journalism outfit." 

Spotify did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The streaming platform has published two new episodes of "The Joe Rogan Experience" since the open letter was first reported last Wednesday. 

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As of Monday morning, the Dec. 31 episode featuring Malone was still available to stream on the service. YouTube removed the episode, where Malone discussed the notion of "mass formation psychosis" and how he believes people are being manipulated by public vaccine messaging.

The company confirmed in 2020 that Rogan would maintain full creative control over the show" once news broke that it would become exclusive to Spotify. 

Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.