LONDON (NewsNation Now) — Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have expressed their concern to Spotify about COVID-19 misinformation on its platform but say they are committed to continuing to work with the company, a spokesperson for their Archewell foundation said Sunday.
Singer-songwriters Neil Young and Joni Mitchell are removing their music from Spotify in protest that the popular streaming service has allowed the airing of misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.
Harry and Meghan signed a series of corporate deals, including to produce and host podcasts for Spotify, as part of their efforts to make a living following their split with Britain’s royal family announced in 2020.
“Hundreds of millions of people are affected by the serious harms of rampant mis- and disinformation every day. Last April, our co-founders began expressing concerns to our partners at Spotify about the all too real consequences of COVID-19 misinformation on its platform,” the spokesperson said.
“We have continued to express our concerns to Spotify to ensure changes to its platform are made to help address this public health crisis. We look to Spotify to meet this moment and are committed to continuing our work together as it does.”
In a post Sunday, Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek laid out more transparent platform rules given the backlash stirred by Young.
Young objected to his music being played on the same platform as Joe Rogan’s top-rated postcast “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Rogan has stirred controversy with his views on the pandemic, government mandates and vaccines to control the spread of the coronavirus.
“Personally, there are plenty of individuals and views on Spotify that I disagree with strongly,” Ek wrote. “It is important to me that we don’t take on the position of being content censor while also making sure that there are rules in place and consequences for those who violate them.”
Ek said the advisories will link to Spotify’s fact-based COVID-19 hub in what he described as a “new effort to combat misinformation.” It will roll out in the coming days, Ek said. He did not specifically reference Rogan or Young.
Earlier this month, 270 scientists and medical professionals signed a letter urging Spotify to take action against Rogan, accusing him of spreading falsehoods on the podcast.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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