A coalition of over 200 medical professionals and educators have written an open letter to Spotify to implement a “misinformation policy” in response to content disseminated on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
The impetus behind the letter was the December 31, 2021 episode featuring Dr. Robert Malone. In the letter, the authors accuse Spotify of failing to “mitigate the spread of misinformation” by allowing such episodes to stream to an estimated audience of over 11 million people.
The letter accuses Malone of “promoting baseless conspiracy theories” and claims “the JRE has a concerning history of broadcasting misinformation, particularly regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The letter would also accuse Rogan of repeatedly spreading “misleading and false claims on his podcast, provoking distrust in science and medicine.” The authors argue that Rogan 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.”
The authors proceed to argue that such information is particularly harmful due to the demographic of the podcast. They state that the average age of JRE listeners is 24 years old and that this is concerning because “unvaccinated 12-34-year-olds are 12 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID than those who are fully vaccinated.”
The impassioned letter continues by stating that medical professionals are directly impacted by the content shared on the JRE podcast, as they have to work overtime to repair “the public’s damaged understanding of science and medicine.”
“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 concludes.
You can view the full letter here.
What is your reaction to this letter about The Joe Rogan Experience podcast?
