Of course, Neil Young’s stand against Spotify can only make an impact if the “Heart Of Gold” musician, and Spotify itself, are set to lose something from him pulling his music off the platform. Last month, 270 figures from the scientific community, including doctors, physicians, and science educators, also signed an open letter urging Spotify to curb Rogan’s claims and establish a “clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform”. “The goal post moving of Joe Rogan after getting fact-checked live is incredible,” writes Eric Feigl-Ding, a Senior Fellow at the Federation of American Scientists, sharing the clip. Still, it’s hard to imagine that he didn’t influence some of his millions of listeners in 2021, when he discouraged young people from getting the vaccine and endorsed the controversial antiparasitic drug ivermectin, as he shared stories of his own COVID infection.Īnother particular highlight, shared more recently on his podcast, sees him double down on a point about the risks of the vaccine – versus catching the virus itself – over and over again, despite being presented with scientific evidence in real-time.

Joe Rogan’s history of sketchy vaccine discourse goes pretty deep into the pandemic, though he does, admittedly, assert that he’s “not an authority on health”. Then, there’s a third group of people, who just want to know who tf is Neil Young, and why does taking his music off Spotify even matter? Below, we break down Spotify’s misinformation dispute, and why it could affect artists you actually care about. On the other are Rogan fans and free speech advocates, who suggest that – even if the podcaster’s claims are disagreeable – he should be able to air them for his audience to decide. On one side are supporters of Neil Young, who agree that Spotify shouldn't be platforming Rogan’s misinformation. On social media, people’s feelings toward this decision are much less clear-cut (who’d have guessed?), dividing users into several vocal factions. After all, Spotify struck a $100 million exclusive deal with Rogan in late 2020, which evidently trumps Young’s six million monthly listeners. Clearly backing Joe Rogan, the streaming giant removed all of Young’s music, as requested. On January 26, just two days after he issued this ultimatum, Spotify made its choice.

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