As I started this post, it occurred to me I do have a Spotify account but not a premium one. I've been an iTunes user for years, including for my podcasts. I think one of my 12 nephews had introduced me to the platform. I never really used it; I don't recall the context--maybe I didn't find familiar musical artists or any material I didn't already have on iTunes, Google Play/Youtube, etc. I was aware of Joe Rogan, mostly on social media like Twitter trends. Nate Thurston ("Good Morning Liberty") often mentioned Rogan's market-leading podcast; in part, Thurston, who has had his own bad COVID-19 experience, is fixated on natural immunity and vaccine policies that ignore it. He's a Fauci critic, and I think he's intrigued with off-label use of ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug, Rogan, with maybe 11 million followers, through the duration of the pandemic has promoted ivermectin and other less conventional treatments to prevent or treat COVID-19.
Rogan, a comedian and a media host/commentator, started his successful podcast in 2009 and eventually achieved significant revenues through Youtube, initially spurning Spotify's offer to acquire distribution rights as inadequate. He eventually accepted an exclusive licensing deal with Spotify.
Rogan has been spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines. I'm not going to provide a comprehensive history here, but a prominent example was his false claim that mRNA vaccines amount to gene therapy. More importantly, he has provided a platform for some scientifically literate (even published) skeptics, in particular Robert Malone, who claims to be an inventor or mRNA vaccine technology platform and has compared pandemic policies to the Holocaust. Notorious episode #1757 resulted in a recent open letter, signed by 270 doctors, scientists and others concerned that Spotify is sponsoring misinformation content that has been moderated by Twitter and other platforms.
This letter has been followed up by a small wave of musical performers protesting their displeasure with Spotify by withdrawing their catalogs, including Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Barbra Streisand, and others. Rogan has responded to the controversy by promising more balanced content, Spotify will tag episodes and direct listener attention to a curated repository. However it doesn't intend to censor Rogan's content.
First of all, I've made it clear that I'm pro-vaccine; I think what Malone and others are doing violates professional ethics. Rogan, of course, is scientifically incompetent and morally responsible for spreading doubt about life-saving technology which can also mitigate severe illness requiring hospitalization.
But I am not a fan of anti-market tactics like boycotts and other methods of cancel culture What we need is more competition, not less, in the marketplace of ideas. A crackdown doesn't defeat ignorance; it makes it more attractive to those with questions about the status quo. The burden of doctors, scientists and scholars is to persuade, not rely on the use of force by government and others to compel a point of view.
