White House Praises Spotify’s Plan To Add Advisory Warnings To Podcasts

The White House has backed up Spotify’s intention to add content advisory warnings to mentions of COVID-19 in podcasts, but still feels that such platforms could do more to curb the spread of misinformation. 

Last week, an uproar saw numerous artists pull their content from Spotify in protest of the lack of regulations on The Joe Rogan Experience, the platform’s most popular podcast, which listeners felt were promoting COVID-19 and climate change denial. 

In fact, as per MakeUseOf, a group of over 200 medical professionals and scientists wrote an open letter to the service, petitioning it to implement a policy to tackle unsubstantiated information. 

Now, as Rogan has apologized and promised a more balance view on his show, the streaming service will be adding advisory warnings on content relating to the pandemic, in order to quell backlash that it’s standing idly by while allowing the spread of misinformation, as per Reuters. 

“Our hope is all major tech platforms and all major news sources for that matter be responsible and be vigilant to ensure that the American people have access to accurate information on something as significant as COVID-19,” said White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki. 

“This disclaimer—it’s a positive step, but we want every platform to continue doing more to call out misinformation,” she added. 

[via Reuters and MakeUseOf, cover image via TY Lim / Shutterstock.com]