Spotify staffers concerned and struggling with Joe Rogan and his popular podcast heard from the company’s co-founder and chief executive Daniel Ek this week. Ek told the streaming giant’s staff the virtues like tolerance are paramount, before pointing out it is not the company’s place to “dictate the discourse” of Rogan’s show.
“There are many things that Joe Rogan says that I strongly disagree with and find very offensive,” Ek said at a company town hall, according to a transcript published by The Verge. But “if we want even a shot at achieving our bold ambitions, it will mean having content on Spotify that many of us may not be proud to be associated with.”
Ek qualified his total support with the caveat: “Not anything goes, but there will be opinions, ideas, and beliefs that we disagree with strongly and even makes us angry or sad,” before pointing out there are plenty of people in the world who do like to listen to Rogan.
“For those of you who aren’t aware, The Joe Rogan Experience is currently the top podcast in 93 markets, so it’s impossible to ignore its scale and reach. Or to put it plainly, he’s the number one podcaster in the world by a wide margin.”
Ek stepped forward as controversy continues to swirl around Rogan and his place on the global streaming giant.
As Breitbart News reported, Rogan has been accused of “spreading fake information about vaccines” with left-wing rocker Neil Young leading the call to blacklist Spotify over the platform’s refusal to dump him.
Musicians Graham Nash, Nils Lofgren, and India Arie have since joined his boycott call.
Young’s original letter of demand came after 270 doctors, professors, and physicians signed an open letter instructing Spotify to boot Rogan. It said in part:
On Dec. 31, 2021, the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), a Spotify-exclusive podcast, uploaded a highly controversial episode featuring guest Dr. Robert Malone (#1757). 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. 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.
Spotify has spent almost a month dealing with its $100million flagship talent and those who call his shows “misinformation” that should be excised from the public domain.
The Joe Rogan Experience, which garners up to 11 million listeners per episode, can find a home at Spotify and staff should get used to that notion, Ek advised as he finished his address.
“I want to remind everyone of our mission. We want to get to 50 million creators and a billion users. And to be a true platform and achieve this ambition, it’s really critical that creators are able to use their voice independently. And it’s also critical that we have diverse voices on our platform,” he said at the town hall, alluding to past political moves by Rogan.
“We’re not in the business of dictating the discourse that these creators want to have on their shows.”
Spotify announced Sunday it will add “content advisory” over coronavirus misinformation in the face of protests against Rogan, as Breitbart News reported.
Ek’s comments were published Thursday as the firm’s stock went into freefall. Spotify shares were down 17 percent – as tech stocks dropped across the board.