LONDON, Jan 31 (Reuters Breakingviews) – Daniel Ek is having his first Facebook moment. By sticking warning labels on podcasts about Covid-19 and encouraging hosts to balance out medical views, the Spotify Technology (SPOT.N) boss has probably prevented an exodus among his 170 million music-streaming subscribers. But blunting the edgy appeal of his podcasts could crimp their growth.
The $39 billion group’s misinformation mishap is akin to one confronting Meta Platforms (FB.O) boss Mark Zuckerberg’s social networks. Joe Rogan, a popular U.S. podcast host, courted controversy by giving airtime to his own and others’ anti-vaccine views. In response, high-profile musicians such as Neil Young pulled their songs from the platform, wiping more than $2 billion off Spotify’s market value.
Slapping the audio equivalent of parental advisory on such content is unlikely to enhance its appeal to listeners. Like Meta, it will also fail to silence critics who say Spotify is hosting socially damaging content. Then again, the alternatives for Ek were probably far worse.
– U.S. podcaster Joe Rogan on Jan. 30 apologised and pledged more balance on his show, broadcast by streaming service Spotify Technology, amid a backlash against Covid-19 misinformation.
– “If I pissed you off, I’m sorry,” Rogan said. “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.”
– Spotify Chief Executive Daniel Ek said on Jan. 30 that he might disagree with some views on the platform but that it was “important to me that we don’t take on the position of being content censor”.
– Spotify said it would add an advisory to any episode featuring discussions about the pandemic in order to direct listeners to a Covid-19 hub containing information from medical and health experts, as well as links to authoritative sources.
– Singer-songwriters Neil Young and Joni Mitchell are among prominent figures who have asked for their music to be removed from Spotify in a backlash against Covid-19 misinformation on Rogan’s show.
