Friday, January 14, 2022

Hundreds of doctors petition Spotify to address Joe Rogan’s ‘history of broadcasting misinformation’

2022/1/13 
© New York Daily News

A collection of 270 medical professionals reportedly signed an open letter to Spotify asking the media platform to rein in Joe Rogan, its most listened to podcaster, whom they accuse of promoting junk science with regards to the COVID pandemic.

Their chief complaint is aimed at a Dec. 31 episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience” featuring right-wing media darling Dr. Robert Malone, who is a COVID-vaccine skeptic.

The group behind the letter — first published by Rolling Stone — describes itself as a “coalition of scientists, medical professionals, professors, and science communicators spanning a wide range of fields such as microbiology, immunology, epidemiology, and neuroscience.”

Their concerns include that year-ending program with Malone, which has “been criticized for promoting baseless conspiracy theories” on a podcast those experts accuse of having a “concerning history of broadcasting misinformation.”

Among the things Malone asserted during his visit with Rogan was that “mass formation psychosis” is leading people to get vaccinated against the deadly and highly contagious coronavirus, which has killed more than 800,000 Americans since early 2020. Malone, who did not have a hand in developing COVID vaccines, was involved in early research of mRNA technology more that 20 years ago. mRNA technology is at the core of Pfizer and Moderna’s tested and effective vaccination shots.

“Though Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, the company presently has no misinformation policy,” the team of medical experts writes in its letter.

Malone was suspended from Twitter earlier this month for violating its rules regarding the dissemination of misinformation. YouTube removed a clip of his interview with Rogan for the same reason.

“The average age of (The Joe Rogan Experience) listeners is 24 years old and according to data from Washington State, unvaccinated 12-34 year olds are 12 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID than those who are fully vaccinated,” Rogan’s critics state in their missive.

The medical experts charge that the spreading of bad science is a “sociological issue of devastating proportions” and blames Spotify for giving bogus information a home. They call on the platform to “immediately establish a clear and public policy to moderate misinformation on its platform.”

Spotify did not respond to a Daily News request for comment about the letter from the 270 medical professionals.

Speaking on his own behalf, Rogan told listeners last year that they should not come to him for medical advice.

“I’m not a doctor, I’m a f---ing moron,” he said during in April podcast. “I’m not a respected source of information, even for me.”

The 54-year-old podcaster admitted to his 11 million listeners that he doesn’t usually think about what he’s going to say before he speaks. Rogan is described on his website as a “stand up comic, mixed martial arts fanatic, psychedelic adventurer, host of the ‘Joe Rogan Experience’ podcast.”

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