Spotify Soars 13% After Addressing Turmoil Over Joe Rogan

(Bloomberg) -- Spotify Technology SA climbed as much as 13% after the streaming service said it will add a content advisory to podcasts that address Covid-19, seeking to quash an uproar over Joe Rogan's program.

Facing mounting pressure from users and musicians over the accuracy of virus information being spread by the platform's most popular podcaster, Spotify published its existing rules governing content. Rogan, meanwhile, pledged that he would present more balanced, better-researched programming on the coronavirus.

The shares rose as high as $196.06 Monday in New York, recording their best intraday gain since December 2020. That erased the 12% decline Spotify registered last week, wiping out almost $4 billion from the company's market value.

Rock icon Neil Young had pulled his music from the service to protest Rogan, who has hosted several outspoken skeptics of Covid-19 vaccines. Joni Mitchell followed Young's lead as did other musicians.

Read more: Rogan brings misinformation debate to podcasting

Spotify created rules governing acceptable content on its service years ago and built a hub with coronavirus information early in the pandemic, but hadn't made them public until Sunday.

Rogan thanked his listeners and Spotify and apologized for the controversy. 

“If I've p----ed you off, I'm sorry,” he said in an Instagram video over the weekend. He said he would “try harder to get people with differing opinions on right afterward” and “do my best to make sure I have researched these topics.”

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