- Saudi crown prince says no Israel ties without Palestinian state
- Canada to further cut international student, foreign worker permits
- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- Ukraine official claims Russian advance in Kursk has been 'stopped'
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 14, wound 450
- US Fed makes aggressive rate cut, weeks before election
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- US Fed makes larger half-point cut in first reduction since 2020
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Struggling Roma replace sacked icon De Rossi with Ivan Juric
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- McIlroy outlines threats to golf peace deal
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ |
Neil Young-Spotify row underscores podcast disinformation issues
Neil Young's ultimatum to Spotify that it choose between his music and the controversial star podcaster Joe Rogan has become a flashpoint in the conversation over online disinformation and corporate responsibility to moderate it.
The prolific rocker this week demanded the streaming giant remove his music -- he had 2.4 million followers and over six million monthly listeners -- unless it was willing to drop Rogan, whose show is the platform's most popular but is widely accused of peddling conspiracy theories.
Rogan, 54, has discouraged vaccination in young people and promoted the off-label use of the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin to treat the virus.
"I realized I could not continue to support SPOTIFY's life threatening misinformation to the music loving public," Young, a polio survivor, said in an open letter.
His challenge followed a demand from hundreds of medical professionals that the streaming service prevent Rogan from promoting "several falsehoods about Covid-19 vaccines," which they said is creating "a sociological issue of devastating proportions."
Rogan, who has a $100 million multi-year exclusive deal with Spotify, was kept on. On Wednesday Young's hits -- including "Heart of Gold," "Harvest Moon" and "Rockin' In The Free World" -- began vanishing from the platform.
The company -- which on Wednesday voiced "regret" over Young's move but cited a need to balance "both safety for listeners and freedom for creators" -- did not respond to an AFP query seeking further comment.
Last year, its CEO Daniel Ek told Axios he didn't think Spotify -- which recently began heavily investing in podcasts -- had editorial responsibility for Rogan.
He compared the podcaster to "really well-paid rappers," saying "we don't dictate what they're putting in their songs, either."
- 'Business concerns' -
Spotify's move drew applause online from organizations including Rumble, a video streaming platform popular with the right wing, which credited the Swedish company with "defending creators" and standing "up for free speech."
But Young, 76, also garnered wide praise for taking a stand, including from the World Health Organization chief. The musician has urged fellow artists to follow his lead.
Summer Lopez, the senior director of the free expression programs at nonprofit PEN America, emphasized that "he's probably one of the only artists who could really afford to make this kind of call."
"He has every right to do that," said the advocate at PEN, an organization dedicated to defending free speech. But she voiced concern over "broader calls for boycotting of Spotify," because "it is such an essential venue for artists to reach their audiences, and a source of income."
The role of platforms like Spotify to moderate content is complex, Lopez said, because unlike social media outlets it's a service "designed primarily to amplify art and artwork."
"I think the real issue here is that Spotify doesn't have a clear policy on this," Lopez said.
And she raised questions of whether "there's any meaningful independence" between "the decision-making process and their business concerns."
- 'Mandating more clarity' -
In recent years online media titans including Facebook and YouTube have come under fire for allowing conspiracy theorists to spread their views.
But despite its explosive growth, podcasting has largely flown under the radar.
Valerie Wirtschafter, a senior data analyst at the Brookings Institution who studies contemporary media and political behavior, said that's primarily because "it's such a big and decentralized space."
But she said audio is a particularly potent medium for spreading falsehoods: "There's a sort of personal experience that happens there."
The intimacy of sound combined with the conversational style of podcasts, Wirtschafter told AFP, allows listeners to process information in a way that "potentially makes it a stronger medium for these untruths, for this misinformation, to fester."
And tracking disinformation in a podcast is "kind of like the needle in the haystack," according to Wirtschafter. Episodes of "The Joe Rogan Experience" often fall in the two-to-three-hour range.
Moderation possibilities include disclaimers before episodes, Wirtschafter said, and platforms that host podcasts could also take steps to mediate their algorithms so they aren't "amplifying... harmful content."
Joseph Uscinski, a political scientist specializing in conspiracy theories at the University of Miami, meanwhile cautioned against giving any "tools of censorship" to government to combat disinformation.
"They can be used for benevolent reasons today, but those same tools will be available tomorrow for people who aren't quite as benevolent."
Lopez agreed, but cited a need for "mandating more clarity on how these decisions are being made, how appeals are handled."
"Giving researchers access to understand what the implications of those decisions are," she said, could help "better understand what the impact of different approaches might be."
For his part, Young dismissed accusations of promoting censorship.
"I did this because I had no choice in my heart," he wrote. "It is who I am. I am not censoring anyone."
"I am speaking my own truth."
D.Schneider--BTB