Spotify’s new measures to tackle misinformation on the streaming giant don’t go far enough, and likely won’t stop the tide of discontent the platform is facing, a New Zealand tech expert says.
Spotify’s chief executive announced it’d soon add advisory warnings to any podcasts that discuss Covid-19, directing users to its online information centre.
The announcement from Daniel Ek comes after a wave of criticism over Spotify’s involvement with its top podcaster Joe Rogan, after he interviewed people sceptical of coronavirus vaccines and expressed other controversial or incorrect views.
Artists Joni Mitchell and Neil Young, as well as Prince Harry and Meghan Duchess of Sussex, were part of the chorus of high profile figures calling for Spotify to act.
“We have had rules in place for many years but admittedly, we haven’t been transparent around the policies that guide our content more broadly,” a statement from Ek read.
“Based on the feedback over the last several weeks, it’s 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 guiding us through this unprecedented time.”
Paul Brislen of Brislen Communications says Spotify’s response – including threatening to take accounts down if they break the company’s just-published platform rules – is doing “as little as possible”.
“It is literally just the bare minimum, it's only the first step,” he told 1News.
“I think we're going to see more artists come out and say, ‘Actually you know what, I am still unhappy with your stance.’”
He believes Spotify’s now coming under the same spotlight as other global tech giants like Facebook, which are now facing the possibility of more regulation.
“This is the model that all of these social media companies have really relied on to build their fortunes which is now starting to come back to haunt them; they haven't done the bare minimum to make sure the content being shared is either legitimate or acceptable to the audience,” he said.
Other issues with the platform, like the amount artists are paid per stream, could come to the fore, Brislen argues.
“I think if you start to open the floodgates, you'll get a lot of artists deciding they actually don't need the pittance they're getting from Spotify, there are other streaming platforms available to them these days and I think that will make Spotify's shareholders in particular sit up and take notice.”
Spotify says it’ll roll out its new advisory warnings on Covid-19 content to countries around the world in the coming days.
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