Why Health Professionals Are Asking Spotify to Stop Joe Rogan Spreading Misinformation

Rogan's podcast often courts controversy but 200 doctors and scientists think a recent episode took things a step too far.

Over 200 medical professionals and scientists want Spotify to take action on Joe Rogan, the world's most popular podcaster. Health professionals are raising concern over Rogan's Spotify-exclusive podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), for spreading misinformation.

The coalition also wants Spotify to implement a misinformation policy immediately. Here's everything you need to know.

Health Professionals Call on Spotify to Implement Misinformation Policy

A coalition of health professionals, including hundreds of scientists, medical professionals, professors, and science communicators, is calling on Spotify to implement a misinformation policy. In an open letter, the coalition says the streaming platform "has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform" but "presently has no misinformation policy."

The group wants the company to "immediately establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform."

Related: How to Spot Fake News With This Handy Tool

Why Health Professionals Want Spotify to Stop Joe Rogan From Spreading Misinformation

As well as calling on the streaming giant to create a misinformation policy, the coalition also wants the company to take action against Joe Rogan. Of course, the open letter to Spotify wasn't out of the blue. It came a few days after Joe Rogan's interview with Dr. Robert Malone in episode #1757, released on December 31, 2021.

The coalition says Dr. Malone utilized Joe Rogan's JRE podcast to spread several claims that are not based on scientific research. According to the coalition, false information leads to distrust in both science and medicine.

"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 open letter reads.

The letter adds that this isn't the first time the JRE podcast has spread false information. At the time of writing, YouTube has taken down the episode which a third-party uploaded to the platform, reports the New York Post.

Related: How Social Media Platforms Can Stop the Spread of COVID-19 Misinformation

Spotify's History With Misinformation

Any content creation platform constantly has to deal with issues of misinformation. Although Spotify doesn't yet have a misinformation policy, it has banned podcasters over false claims before.

Most notably, it removed Pete Evans' podcast from its platform in mid-2021 for promoting "dangerous false, deceptive, or misleading content about COVID-19 that may cause offline harm and/or pose a direct threat to public health."

About The Author