Spotify Podcast to Fact-Check Rogan, Stop Producing New Episodes

(Bloomberg) -- “Science Vs,” an award-winning podcast on Spotify Technology SA's streaming service, plans to focus on fact-checking Joe Rogan and others whose programs may be sources of misinformation.

“Until Spotify implements stronger methods to stop the spread of misinformation on the platform, we will no longer be making new Science Vs episodes, except those intended to counteract misinformation being spread on Spotify,” two of the creators wrote on Monday. Their show is produced by Gimlet, which Spotify purchased in 2019.

Spotify on Sunday said it would publish internal rules governing what content is and isn't allowed on its service. A day later, “Science Vs” host Wendy Zukerman and editor Blythe Terrell said in a letter to Spotify Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek that the policy doesn't go far enough. They posted the letter on Terrell's Twitter account.

Rogan, with some 11 million daily listeners, often welcomes conspiracy theorists on his show. A recent program featuring a vaccine skeptic raised the ire of the medical community. A group of some 270 scientists and medical professionals called on the service to toughen its standards regarding pandemic information earlier this month. Folk-rockers Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pulled their music from Spotify to protest Rogan's program last week.

The company had hoped to quell the controversy by making its program standards public and saying it would flag shows that address the pandemic with notices linking to more information. The letter from “Science Vs” suggests that hasn't worked.

“Right now Spotify is saying: ‘Revenues are coming from the Joe Rogan podcast and I can't really afford to alienate him and the people who logged in to watch his show,'” Gita Johar, a marketing and business professor at Columbia University, said in an interview Monday.