In a recent staff meeting, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek reportedly informed Spotify employees that the platform cannot actively tell content creators what to publish.
As the fallout from Joe Rogan’s interviews with Dr Peter McCullough and Dr Robert Malone continues, two employees present at the meeting this week told the LA Times that Ek reiterated that Spotify cannot tell Joe Rogan who to interview and what to talk about.
The stated reason for this is because the company sees itself as a platform to distribute Rogan’s show rather than as Rogan’s publisher, according to the employees who listened to the remarks.
The livestreamed town hall employee meeting, called by Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, took place on Wednesday morning. During the meeting, Ek addressed the ongoing controversy surrounding Rogan and his famed podcast show, The Joe Rogan Experience. The show, which is exclusive to Spotify, draws an estimated 11 million viewers per episode. Since a 2020 deal was signed with Spotify, Rogan has earned himself a reported $100 million.
Two employees present at the event spoke to the LA Times; one of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
According to an unnamed employee present at the event, Ek said: “Spotify doesn’t approve Rogan’s guest list, they don’t look at his content until it goes up, and so they don’t have editing power. They just look at it after it’s already on the platform and remove it if it doesn’t meet guidelines.”
“We believe we have a critical role to play in supporting creator expression while balancing it with the safety of our users,” Ek reportedly told employees.
A second employee claimed that Ek and chief content and advertising business officer Dawn Ostroff “repeatedly used the phrase ‘if we were a publisher,’ very strongly implying we are not a publisher, so we don’t have editorial responsibility.”
Ek further appeared to back free speech in a recent Q&A session for investors. As Variety reports, Ek told investors: “and we will continue to partner with experts. We don’t change our policies based on one creator, nor do we change it based on any media cycle or call from anyone else.”
“Our policies have been carefully written with the input from numbers of internal and external experts in this space. And I do believe they’re right for our platform. And while Joe [Rogan] has a massive audience, and is actually the No. 1 podcast in more than 90 markets, he also has to abide by those policies.”
The chatroom for the town hall’s livestreamed event predominantly consisted of comments “about how Spotify’s exclusive deal with Rogan means it’s more than just a regular platform,” the employee told the LA Times.
Spotify critics have argued that because Spotify has an exclusive deal with Rogan, they can no longer be considered a platform, but should be considered publishers who are liable for the content streamed via the service. On Thursday, the White House waded into the controversy. While the Biden administration praised Spotify for adding new COVID misinformation disclaimers – which link to Covid-19 information hubs in any piece of content that includes discussion of the pandemic, vaccines, or Covid-19 itself – it said the platform could actually challenge misinformation.
Whitehouse Press secretary Jen Psaki hit the headlines when she appeared to urge Spotify to take further action against Joe Rogan, stating that “more can be done” to challenge misinformation.
She responded that the misinformation disclaimers were a good step, but that the company could take steps (if it wanted) to actively prohibit content that contained ‘misinformation’.
Ms Psaki said that it was the responsibility of all companies and particularly that of those platforms where Americans get their news to “be responsible and be vigilant to ensure the American people have accurate information about something as significant as Covid-19. That certainly includes Spotify.”
The heated discussion over Rogan’s podcast rages on after Neil Young boycotted Spotify, encouraging other artists to remove their content from the platform in protest over what they claimed was “COVID misinformation.”
On Monday, Rogan broke his silence over the debacle. His response, shared in a video to Instagram, lasted about ten minutes. In the video, he spoke about the challenges he faces preparing his shows which are unscripted and free-flowing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSUGkSq1qQA
Rogan offered some background on his guests who ignited the Spotify storm – Dr Peter McCullough and Dr Robert Malone – and argued that their opinions were worth hearing. McCullough has been widely published and Malone is considered one of the leading experts on mRNA technology, which is used in the Pfizer and Moderna jabs.
He doubled down on his choice to host both guests, stating: “I do not know if they’re right. I’m not a doctor. I’m not a scientist. I’m just a person who sits down and talks to people and has conversations with them. Do I get things wrong? Absolutely. I get things wrong. But I try to correct them.”
The podcasting giant challenged the word “misinformation” saying that a lot is still being learned about COVID. He also said Spotify will begin to put a disclaimer at the beginning of these sorts of interviews, and he will also consider following them up with an expert with a different opinion.
“I’m going to do my best, in the future, to balance things out…I’m going to do my best,” he said. “But my point of doing this, always, is just to create interesting conversations and ones that I hope people enjoy.”
He also acknowledged Joni Mitchell and Neil Young deciding to remove their music from the streaming platform, adding that he supports Spotify’s decision to begin adding content advisories.
Rogan said he would be open to hosting more experts with differing opinions after he hosts controversial guests in an attempt to represent all sides of whatever issue is being discussed.
“My pledge to you is that I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people’s perspectives so we can maybe find a better point of view,” Rogan said. “It’s a strange responsibility to have this many viewers and listeners. It’s nothing that I prepared for and it’s nothing that I ever anticipated.”
Rogan’s response to the controversy has been praised by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnston, who described it as “perfectly articulated”.
Supporting Rogan in the comments of his Instagram post, Dwayne Johnson wrote: “Great stuff here brother. Perfectly articulated. Look forward to coming on one day and breaking out the tequila with you.”