Spotify does nothing as Joe Rogan peddles vaccine misinformation

He earned his M.D., after Baylor professor of microbiology and public health advocate Peter Hotez. tweeted be motherboard Article on Spotify’s lack of control over Joe Rogan’s misinformation after podcast episode in which Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Logan guest-starred challenged him Debating with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., he suggested donating $100,000 to a charity of Hotez’s choice if Hotez agreed.

In this episode, Logan and Kennedy criticized all of the pandemic classics, including vaccines, 5G and Wi-Fi technology, and conspiracy theories about ivermectin. All the usual tropes in coronavirus pandemic conspiracy theories.

Twitter owner Elon Musk also joined the Twitter ruckus, accusing Hotez of “hating charity” for not responding to the debate, and Elon and Logan Stance mocking Hotez for hours. rear, tweeted“I was stalked in front of my house by some anti-vaccine people and taunted into discussing RFKJr.”

It adds a troubling new dynamic to this story, especially in the context of motherboard The article that started this all touched on Spotify’s distortions that allowed Logan’s misinformation to remain on the platform. In the article, a Spotify spokesperson was quoted as saying that Logan and Kennedy never said the COVID-19 vaccine was dangerous, saying: design The episode about killing people didn’t break the rules.

Spotify struck a $100 million deal with Logan more than three years ago, after several high-profile stars removed their music from the platform in protest of Logan’s vaccine claims, which Spotify had previously failed to address. , established a new set of misinformation policies.

Conspiracies emerge even when policies are implemented Joe Rogan Experience Once this claim spreads on social media, it can go viral. To date, 111 episodes have been removed, according to JREmissing, a site that tracks deleted podcast episodes.

Since Hotez’s original tweet, Rogan tweeted and retweeted A former podcast guest, Hotez was criticized and insinuated several times over the course of hours before and after his tweet about being stalked.

We have reached out to Spotify for comment on the matter and will update if we hear back.

Updated June 18, 2023 at 2:56 PM PT: Updated headline and added details about recent Logan Podcast episodes.