Woke royals Meghan and Harry have denounced COVID ‘misinformation’ on Spotify, shortly after a number of artists abandoned the platform over podcaster Joe Rogan.
Meghan Markle and her husband Prince Harry — who both founded the anti-disinformation “Archewell” project — have denounced COVID “misinformation” on the streaming platform Spotify, demanding that the service make “changes” on issues concerning the Chinese coronavirus.
The statement from the wayward royals comes shortly after a number of artists abandoned the platform over its refusal to blacklist podcaster Joe Rogan.
According to a post by journalist Omid Scobie, a spokesman for Archewell has aired concerns the pair have regarding the debacle.
“Since the inception of Archewell, we have worked to address the real-time global misinformation crisis,” the statement read. “Hundreds of millions of people are affected by the serious harms of rampant mis- and disinformation every day.”
“Last April, our co-founders [Meghan and Harry] began expressing concerns to our partners at Spotify about the all too real consequences of COVID-19 misinformation on its platform,” the statement continued. “We have continued to express our concerns to Spotify to ensure changes to its platform are made to help address this public health crisis.”
The organisation’s criticisms come despite Meghan and Harry having a lucrative deal with Spotify reportedly worth $25m, with the royal duo being recruited into hosting and producing podcasts.
However, despite the deal, as of this reporting, only one podcast — a holiday special uploaded in 2020 — has been posted by the pair on Spotify under their Archewell Audio brand, with no additional content being published in 2021.
Both Harry and Meghan, since abandoning their royal duties in 2020, have become heavily involved in tackling alleged online “misinformation”, with Harry previously describing “vaccine disinformation” online as a “digital pandemic”.
The black-sheep prince also claims to have warned then-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey that the social media platform was “allowing a coup to be staged” before the January 6 riot.
Now it appears that the pair have turned the attention of their anti-fake news campaign on UFC commentator-turned-podcast host Joe Rogan, who has earned the ire of a number of musicians over some of his podcast’s contents.
Rogan — whose podcasts have racked up millions of listens online — has recently become the focal point of heavy criticism after left-wing rocker Neil Young demanded that Spotify remove him from the platform over misinformation concerns.
Denouncing how the company was “spreading fake information about vaccines”, Young threatened to pull his own music off the platform should the company fail to censor Rogan.
Spotify has since decided to bite the proverbial bullet regarding the ultimatum, announcing that it would be taking Young’s music off of its platform, but that it hoped that it would “welcome him back soon”.
California-based songwriter Joni Mitchell has since joined Young in taking her music off of the streaming service over Rogan’s continued presence.
“Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives,” Mitchell said regarding the decision. “I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.”