Rogan, a comedian and host of The Joe Rogan Experience
, has sparked controversy for repeatedly spreading misinformation about Covid on his show, including the conspiracy theory that hospitals are financially incentivised to record Covid as cause of death. He has also promoted the use of ivermectin, an anti-parasitic treatment used mainly on animals, to treat Covid symptoms.
It has not been proved to be effective at preventing or treating Covid.
Last week, musician
Neil Young asked his management to remove his music from Spotify, citing misinformation on Rogan’s podcast: “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 … They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”
“Irresponsible people are spreading lies that are costing people their lives,” Mitchell wrote. “I stand in solidarity with
Neil Young and the global scientific and medical communities on this issue.”
After removing his music, Spotify said it regretted “Neil’s decision … but hope to welcome him back soon”. Their shares dropped 6% over two days, then recovered slightly – before musician Joni Mitchell announced
she would also remove her music from the platform.
Calls on social media for people to cancel their Spotify subscriptions have intensified over the last week. The company has not disclosed how many users have left, but a message from its customer support team to subscribers said they were “getting a lot of contacts so may be slow to respond”.
