As a result of the controversy surrounding Joe Rogan and Covid misinformation, Spotify will add content warnings to some podcasts. Find out more here.

Over the last few weeks, there has been much opposition to Joe Rogan’s podcast due to concerns over the spreading of misinformation relating to Covid-19. Musicians have removed their music from the platform in protest, including Neil Young and, most recently, Joni Mitchell.

Admitting that Spotify could be more transparent with its content policies, Daniel Ek released a statement yesterday. Careful not to censor creators, but also aiming to enforce rules, Spotify is working to add content warnings to any episodes of podcasts that discuss the pandemic. This banner will lead to a Covid-19 hub, which contains in-date, credible information about the pandemic.

The general platform rules will also be made public on the site for the first time. Spotify has stated that anyone who breaks the rules may have the offending content removed. Among these rules is a section that focusses on “content that promotes dangerous false or dangerous deceptive medical information that may cause offline harm or poses a direct threat to public health”. Repeat offenders could expect to have their accounts suspended. According to an internal memo, Joe Rogan’s content did not “meet the threshold for removal.”

Rogan has caused controversy by singing the praises of unofficial treatments for Covid-19, as well as claiming that healthy young people don’t need to get vaccinated.

Spotify CEO, Daniel Ek said in his statement, “I want you to know that from the very first days of the pandemic, Spotify has been biased toward action.” Citing educational resources and campaigns launched at the start of the pandemic, Ek highlighted Spotify’s position on the misinformation claims. “This new effort to combat misinformation will roll out to countries around the world in the coming days. To our knowledge, this content advisory is the first of its kind by a major podcast platform.”