Harry & Meghan Spoke Out About COVID Misinformation On Spotify

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have raised their “concerns” with Spotify directly following the departure of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell from the platform over COVID misinformation. In December 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed a multi-year deal with Spotify reportedly worth $25 million. Through their production company, Archewell Audio, the couple have produced a 33-minute holiday special and are reportedly planning a series featuring the “voices of high-profile women” per Vanity Fair.

A spokesperson from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Archewell Foundation said the couple “began expressing concerns to our partners at Spotify about the all too real consequences of COVID misinformation on its platform.” Harry, Meghan, and the Archewell Foundation have continued to share these concerns to ensure Spotify makes “changes to its platform” that “help address this public health crisis.” As they “look to Spotify to meet this moment”, Harry and Meghan “are committed to continuing our work together as it does.”

This comes after the likes of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell cut ties with the streaming service in protest of comedian Joe Rogan being hosted on the platform, a podcaster who has been accused of spreading misinformation throughout the pandemic. “I am doing this because Spotify is spreading false information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them,” Young wrote in an open letter, via the Los Angeles Times. “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”

At the beginning of this year, 270 doctors published an open letter to Spotify to “implement a misinformation policy” in response to an episode of the podcast featuring Dr. Robert Malone – who was suspended from Twitter for spreading COVID misinformation – which had been criticised “for promoting baseless conspiracy theories” at the time.

“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 reads, and it concludes by calling on “Spotify to immediately establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform.”

In response, Rogan has said that while he’s “never tried to do anything with this podcast other than just talk to people,” he will try to do his “best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people’s perspectives, so we can maybe find a better point of view” as well as doing his best in researching topics and having “all the pertinent facts at hand.”

On Jan. 30, Spotify published a statement from its CEO Daniel Elk pledging to implement a “content advisory” on any podcast that includes discussion about COVID, which will redirect to Spotify’s dedicated resource hub. “It has become clear to me that we have an obligation to do more to provide balance and access to widely-accepted information from the medical and scientific communities during this unprecedented time,” Elk wrote. “We’ve heard you – especially those from the medical and scientific communities.”