Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Takes Shot at Spotify Over Misinformation Amidst $30 Million Partnership

Spotify is facing some backlash for platforming Joe Rogan’s podcast, which has been a source of major disinformation regarding COVID-19. Music legends like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell removed their music from the streaming service in protest, and other musicians are taking a stand against Rogan’s anti-vaccination views. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have a massive deal with Spotify worth $30 million, and while they haven’t broken with the company, they did issue a statement speaking out against misinformation that is being spread.

“Since the inception of Archewell, we have worked to address the real-time global misinformation crisis,” their rep wrote. “Hundreds of millions of people are affected by the serious harms of rampant mis- and disinformation every day.”

“Last April, our co-founders began expressing concerns to our partners at Spotify about the all-too-real consequences of COVID-19 misinformation on its platform,” the statement continued. We have continued to express our concerns to Spotify to ensure changes to its platform are made to help address this public health crisis. We look to Spotify to meet this moment and are committed to continuing our work together as it does.”

On Sunday, Spotify said it will add a COVID-19 advisory to podcasts that discuss the pandemic and will finally make its platform rules public. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek claimed that their platform policies have been “in place for many years, but admittedly, we haven’t been transparent around the policies that guide our content more broadly.” He continued, “This, in turn, led to questions around their application to serious issues including COVID-19.”

As criticism of Spotify’s continuing silence about Rogan’s controversial podcast mounted, it “became clear” to Ek that the company has an “obligation to do more to provide balance and access to widely-accepted information from the medical and scientific communities guiding us through this unprecedented time.” One of the steps they are taking in response to the controversy is making the platform rules public on the Spotify website.

Next, the company will add a “content advisory” to any podcast that includes discussions about COVID-19. The advisory will tell listeners to check out Spotify’s COVID-19 Hub, which includes podcast episodes featuring interviews with doctors, scientists, academics, and international public health authorities, and links to trusted sources. “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,” Ek wrote.