Spotify is aiming to add cautionary warnings to any podcast on its platform that addresses Covid-19, according to the company.
The new notice, according to CEO Daniel Ek, would connect visitors to a data hub with coronavirus details.
The move comes after the company was chastised for its collaboration with Joe Rogan, a US podcast presenter who has interviewed vaccination skeptics.
The site also made public existing guidelines prohibiting the streaming giant’s contributors from disseminating inaccurate material that might hurt others.
Mr Ek stated on Spotify’s website that it has “been evident to me that we have a duty to do more to give balance and access to widely-accepted knowledge from the medical and scientific communities leading us through this unique period” in a statement.
Mr Ek stated that the company’s long-standing “Platform Rules” – instructions for authors on what content is regarded undesirable – were released on Sunday.
They were created by the corporation in collaboration with a group of outside specialists and are updated on a regular basis, according to the Swedish billionaire.
According to the regulations, anything that “promotes harmful false or dangerous misleading medical information that may cause offline harm or constitutes a direct threat to public health” should be avoided.
These include claims that Covid-19 or other infections are not genuine, as well as suggestions that individuals intentionally infect themselves with coronavirus in order to gain immunity.
Content that violates the rules may be deleted, and repeat infractions may result in an account being suspended.
In recent weeks, the corporation has been criticized for its star presenter, Joe Rogan, who just signed a $100 million contract to relocate his popular podcast solely to the platform in late 2020.
Mr Rogan has advocated for the use of the untested anti-parasitic medicine ivermectin to treat the virus in young people instead of immunization.
This week, musicians Neil Young and Joni Mitchell joined a group of musicians who demanded that their music be taken off the site.
In a statement on his website on Wednesday, Mr Young referred to the site as “the home of life-threatening Covid disinformation.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have also expressed their “concerns” about Covid disinformation to Spotify, but they plan to continue working with the platform.
Rogan’s “concerning history” in addressing the Covid-19 outbreak prompted a number of doctors, scientists, and healthcare experts to issue an open letter to Spotify in early January.
Mr. Rogan has responded to the situation with a video on Instagram.
He denied spreading false information, claiming that he “never sought to accomplish anything with this show other than chat to people.” He did, however, confess that “certainly, I do things wrong,” and he supported the concept of including a disclaimer at the start of contentious episodes.
“My promise to you is that I will do my best to balance out these more contentious ideas with other people’s perspectives, so that we can maybe find a better point of view,” he added, adding that he had “no hard feelings” toward Neil Young or Joni Mitchell.
With 200 million monthly downloads, The Joe Rogan Experience is Spotify’s most popular podcast.