Hundreds of doctors and health professionals sent a letter to Spotify on Friday calling on the streaming company to set a misinformation policy, citing “misleading and false claims,” made on Joe Rogan’s popular podcast — a show exclusively hosted by Spotify and which garners millions of listeners on the platform each month.

What You Need To Know

  • Hundreds of doctors and health professionals sent a letter to Spotify on Friday calling on the streaming company to set a misinformation policy, citing “misleading and false claims,” made on Joe Rogan’s podcast

  • The group called on the company to mitigate "mass-misinformation events," such as a recent episode of Joe Rogan Experience that included an interview with Dr. Robert Malone, who was removed from Twitter for false, anti-vaccine statements and has compared pandemic policies to the Holocaust

  • The letter also calls out a number of other claims made by Rogan, including his discouragement of vaccinations for young people and children and his promotion of the parasite medication ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment

  • The Joe Rogan Experience is the top podcast in the United States, according to Spotify, and it reaches an estimated 11 million listeners per episode; Spectrum News has reached out to Spotify for comment

The group called on the company to mitigate "mass-misinformation events," such as a recent episode of Joe Rogan Experience that included an interview with Dr. Robert Malone, who was removed from Twitter for false, anti-vaccine statements and has compared pandemic policies to the Holocaust.

“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,” more than 250 doctors, health care workers and public health experts wrote in the letter.

They also mention several of Joe Rogan’s claims they take issue with, including his discouragement of vaccinations for young people and children, his promotion of the parasite medication ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment and various other conspiracy theories.

“This is not only a scientific or medical concern; it is a sociological issue of devastating proportions and Spotify is responsible for allowing this activity to thrive on its platform,” the letter reads.

The Joe Rogan Experience is the top podcast in the United States, according to Spotify, and it reaches an estimated 11 million listeners per episode.

The letter sent to Spotify points out that listeners are, on average, 24 years old, putting many listeners in the age range of 18 to 39, a group less vaccinated than adults 40 and older.

More broadly, the health professionals noted in their letter, it appears Spotify does not have a specific misinformation policy at all for content on its platform. The company’s terms for podcasters state that “Spotify is not responsible for what you or others post or share on the Service.”

“We, the undersigned doctors, nurses, scientists, and educators thus call on Spotify to immediately establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform,” the letter reads.

Spectrum News has reached out to Spotify for comment.