Over 270 globalist doctors, physicians, and “science educators” signed an open letter to Spotify calling on the streaming network, which has exclusive streaming rights to the Joe Rogan Experience, to ditch the podcaster.
The petitioners are demanding that the network take action against what they call “misinformation,” citing Joe Rogan’s interview with Dr. Robert Malone, one of the co-creators of mRNA vaccine technology, as an example.
The letter claims that “by allowing the propagation of false and societally harmful assertions, Spotify is enabling its hosted media to damage public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in the credibility of data-driven guidance offered by medical professionals.”
Titled “An Open Letter to Spotify: A call from the global scientific and medical communities to implement a misinformation policy,” the letter states that episode #1757 is not the only “transgression” to occur on the network but exists as a “relevant example of the platform’s failure to mitigate the damage it is causing.”
“With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE, which is hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world’s largest podcast and has tremendous influence,” the letter argues. “Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy.”
The letter initially included a “fact-check” of all the claims presented in Malone’s interview with Rogan, including his definition of the term “mass formation psychosis” to Malone’s claim that the Biden administration is suppressing evidence that might support the efficacy of therapeutics like ivermectin as a possible treatment for COVID-19.
“People who don’t have the scientific or medical background to recognize the things he’s saying are not true and are unable to distinguish fact from fiction are going to believe what [Malone is] saying, and this is the biggest podcast in the world. And that’s terrifying,” said Dr. Ben Rein, a Stanford University neuroscientist who co-authored the letter.
In addition to the interview with Malone, the letter’s authors claim that Rogan has repeatedly spread “misleading and false claims” on the show, which provoked “distrust in science and medicine.”
He has discouraged vaccination in young people and children, incorrectly claimed that mRNA vaccines are “gene therapy,” promoted off-label use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19 (contrary to FDA warnings), and spread a number of unsubstantiated conspiracy theories. In episode #1757, Rogan hosted Dr. Robert Malone, who was suspended from Twitter for spreading misinformation about COVID-19. Dr. Malone used the JRE platform to further promote numerous baseless claims, including several falsehoods about COVID-19 vaccines and an unfounded theory that societal leaders have “hypnotized” the public. Many of these statements have already been discredited. Notably, Dr. Malone is one of two recent JRE guests who has compared pandemic policies to the Holocaust. These actions are not only objectionable and offensive, but also medically and culturally dangerous.
“Dr. Malone’s interview has reached many tens of millions of listeners vulnerable to predatory medical misinformation,” the letter continues. “Mass-misinformation events of this scale have extraordinarily dangerous ramifications.”
As scientists, we face backlash and resistance as the public grows to distrust our research and expertise. As educators and science communicators, we are tasked with repairing the public’s damaged understanding of science and medicine. As physicians, we bear the arduous weight of a pandemic that has stretched our medical systems to their limits and only stands to be exacerbated by the anti-vaccination sentiment woven into this and other episodes of Rogan’s podcast.
“This is not only a scientific or medical concern; it is a sociological issue of devastating proportions and Spotify is responsible for allowing this activity to thrive on its platform,” the letter’s authors argue.
To that end, the petitioners are calling for Spotify to establish a “clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform,” which will undoubtedly result in censorship of Rogan’s podcast and many others, who may – like YouTubers – suffer from the chilling effect of refusing to cover certain topics out of fear of being permanently banned from the platform.
