Spotify landed itself in warm waters after UFC’s commentator Joe Rogan praised Ivermectin on his podcast show The Joe Rogan Experience. Ivermectin which is an anti-parasitic drug mostly used in veterinary treatment is being discouraged by many scientists and physicians ever since the laboratory research suggested that it could play a role in preventing or treating COVID-19. Ivermectin remains a hot topic for the anti-vaccination group.
Joe Rogan’s controversial comment caused uproar; an open letter was issued to Spotify by a large group that included almost 270 science and health professionals. The group demanded Spotify to take action against Rogan’s podcast episode with Dr. Robert Malone who himself is banned from Twitter for spreading false information regarding COVID-19 vaccines. The legendary classic rock singer and songwriter Neil Young also joined the protest against Joe Rogan by giving Spotify an ultimatum that they take Joe Rogan’s podcast down.
When Spotify failed to take any action against its most streamed podcast of 2021, Neil Young pulled his catalog off of Spotify. This was later confirmed by Spotify that they have taken down Neil Young’s music, clearly showing that they have sided with Rogan on the issue. Neil Young’s fans on Twitter showed their support by starting various trends on Twitters that includes #ByeSpotify and #CancelSpotify. Young’s departure was followed up by Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band guitarist Nils Lofgren and Canadian singer and songwriter Joni Mitchell, who also pulled her music library from Spotify.
Daniel Ek, the CEO of Spotify responded to the crowd with an open letter in which he agreed that Spotify needs to be more observant of the information being passed around on the platform, especially during the pandemic. He went on to introduce Spotify’s new platform rules in the open letter, following the footsteps of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
In 2018 — Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook was in the same position as Daniel Ek is right now. It was the 2018 presidential election which became a headache for Zuckerberg to scrutinize what should and should not be shared on Facebook.
As for now, Joe Rogan posted a ten minutes long video on Instagram in which he praised Spotify for standing alongside him and apologized to the platform for the backlash. He also apologized to the protestors and said that he’s open to making changes on his podcast by inviting more experienced health and science professionals.
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Read next: COVID Tests Becomes Cheaper And Easier After Researchers Develop Smart Test Kits
Joe Rogan’s controversial comment caused uproar; an open letter was issued to Spotify by a large group that included almost 270 science and health professionals. The group demanded Spotify to take action against Rogan’s podcast episode with Dr. Robert Malone who himself is banned from Twitter for spreading false information regarding COVID-19 vaccines. The legendary classic rock singer and songwriter Neil Young also joined the protest against Joe Rogan by giving Spotify an ultimatum that they take Joe Rogan’s podcast down.
When Spotify failed to take any action against its most streamed podcast of 2021, Neil Young pulled his catalog off of Spotify. This was later confirmed by Spotify that they have taken down Neil Young’s music, clearly showing that they have sided with Rogan on the issue. Neil Young’s fans on Twitter showed their support by starting various trends on Twitters that includes #ByeSpotify and #CancelSpotify. Young’s departure was followed up by Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band guitarist Nils Lofgren and Canadian singer and songwriter Joni Mitchell, who also pulled her music library from Spotify.
Daniel Ek, the CEO of Spotify responded to the crowd with an open letter in which he agreed that Spotify needs to be more observant of the information being passed around on the platform, especially during the pandemic. He went on to introduce Spotify’s new platform rules in the open letter, following the footsteps of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
In 2018 — Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook was in the same position as Daniel Ek is right now. It was the 2018 presidential election which became a headache for Zuckerberg to scrutinize what should and should not be shared on Facebook.
As for now, Joe Rogan posted a ten minutes long video on Instagram in which he praised Spotify for standing alongside him and apologized to the platform for the backlash. He also apologized to the protestors and said that he’s open to making changes on his podcast by inviting more experienced health and science professionals.
Read next: COVID Tests Becomes Cheaper And Easier After Researchers Develop Smart Test Kits