According to reports, a group of 270 doctors and medical professionals drafted an open letter to Spotify – the platform that hosts Joe Rogan’s immensely popular podcast – demanding that the company effectively censor Rogan by way of enforcing a COVID “misinformation policy.”
Back in May of 2020, Spotify signed an exclusive deal with Rogan that would make the music streaming platform the only medium available to catch full episodes of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” which said exclusive deal kicked into effect by September of that year.
Rogan’s show has always managed to attract critics from the Left, such as Media Matters’ Alex Paterson, who described Rogan’s podcast as a “cesspool of toxic masculinity that discusses elk hunting, mixed martial arts, anti-trans views, and harmful health information about the coronavirus pandemic.”
But the latest hate-train against Rogan has centered on various discussions he’s had on his show that pertain to COVID, which has now resulted in a hodge-podge of medical professionals demanding that Spotify craft a “misinformation policy” with respect to COVID.
This open letter, aptly dubbed “A call from the global scientific and medical communities to implement a misinformation policy,” sinks its proverbial claws from the get-go about a late December episode on Rogan’s show where he hosted Dr. Robert Malone.
“On Dec. 31, 2021, the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), a Spotify-exclusive podcast, uploaded a highly controversial episode featuring guest Dr. Robert Malone (#1757). The episode has been criticized for promoting baseless conspiracy theories, and the JRE has a concerning history of broadcasting misinformation, particularly regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The letter goes on to allege that Spotify, by way of hosting Rogan’s show, is “enabling its hosted media to damage public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in the credibility of data-driven guidance offered by medical professionals.”
There was no shortage of assumptive responsibilities that this “coalition of scientists, medical professionals, professors, and science communicators” claimed Spotify was abdicating, alleging that the music streaming platform that also hosts podcasts “has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform” but was running afoul due to not having a “misinformation policy.”
Throughout the letter, a myriad of assertions was levied that claimed Rogan was peddling in “predatory medical misinformation” and that his program unchecked has the propensity to result in some medical professionals’ theories being questioned – which is rather ironic considering that the context of the open letter aims to malign Dr. Malone.
“Mass-misinformation events of this scale have extraordinarily dangerous ramifications. As scientists, we face backlash and resistance as the public grows to distrust our research and expertise. As educators and science communicators, we are tasked with repairing the public’s damaged understanding of science and medicine.”
Rogan serves as likely one of the biggest threats to legacy media, with an average of 11 million viewers per episode of his podcast, which is one of the many reasons that the Left has done everything they can to try and reign in the podcast host and try to silence him. Whether or not this latest effort will work remains to be seen.
This piece was written by Gregory Hoyt on January 13, 2022. It originally appeared in RedVoiceMedia.com and is used by permission.
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270 medical professionals who are seriously uninformed about COVID signed onto that letter.