Podcasters have an obligation not to harm listeners

By now you've heard about the clash between Spotify and people who demand that Joe Rogan stop lying about COVID. People who support truth are demanding that Spotify remove offending Rogan episodes when he either shares false information or gives a platform to people sharing false information about COVID.

If you aren't in the know check out this blog post by Rebecca Watson about a recent guest of Rogan's:

"Mass Formation Psychosis:" Robert Malone's Super-villain Origin Story

And this post on a misinformation fest about Climate Change from PZ Myers:

"Dear god, Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson are such pompous know-nothings"

The resulting fire included several well known musicians pulling their music from Spotify and some podcasters who care about the truth refusing to have new episodes hosted on Spotify or their directory.

I checked my stats and Spotify is just not someplace I get listeners and I could remove the show from their directory but I'm not sure it would even work.

Spotify knew about Rogan before they signed him to a $100 million contract and they have in the past removed past episodes that people complained about.

Don't get me wrong, Spotify is a private company and they can, for the most part, share any audio they please. Most corporation also recognize they have a moral obligation not to allow content that will get people hurt or killed and COVID misinformation fits that label. Encouraging people not to get the vaccine or to use dubious treatments is no different to me than promoting self-harm or death by suicide.

In their terms of service Spotify notes they can remove content for any reason or no reason but they have a contract with Rogan that might contain different terms.

We aren't talking about different flavors of ice cream or if INXS still rocked without lead singer Michael Hutchence. The misinformation Rogan talks about on his show will actually lead to someone dying.

Joe Rogan can say what he pleases but he can’t avoid the consequences for that speech. That is not how free speech, or in this case a paid platform, works.

If he doesn't care then Spotify needs to step in and stop it.