An official with the Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Archewell foundation said on Sunday the couple expressed their concern to Spotify over misinformation about COVID-19 spread on its platform and that they remain committed to continuing to work with the company.
In protest of Spotify’s dissemination of misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine, singers and songwriter Neil Young and Joni Mitchell are removing their music from the service.
Upon announcing their split with Britain’s royal family in 2020, Harry and Meghan signed several corporate partnerships, including one with Spotify to produce and host podcasts.
Misinformation and disinformation cause serious harm to hundreds of millions of people every day.
As recently as April, our co-founders expressed concern to our partners at Spotify about the potential consequences of misinformation about COVID-19 on the platform,” said the spokesperson.
Spotify has been informed of our concerns regarding this public health crisis and urged to make changes to its platform. In this moment, we look to Spotify to provide the solutions and are committed to our continued collaboration as it does.”
Reuters contacted Spotify through its website on Sunday but the company had no immediate comment.
In accordance with its “detailed content policies,” the Swedish company says it strives to balance both creator freedom and listener safety. As a result, more than 20,000 podcasts about COVID-19 were removed.
In the last few weeks, 270 scientists and medical professionals have written to Spotify urging them to take action against Rogan for spreading falsehoods on his podcast.
