New Spotify Science VS Podcast Looks To Fact-Check COVID And Scientific Misinformation--But Will It Be Enough?

The Spotify Science VS podcast aims to fact-check a lot of COVID and scientific misinformation that's currently running rampant on the popular streaming service.

This was announced by the podcast's host and editor, who Engadget says is actually stopping producing regular shows in order to focus on countering the spread of misinformation on the popular music platform. The Spotify Science VS podcast is set to keep doing so until the company "implements stronger methods" to stop misinformation from running rampant on the streaming service.

Wendy Zukerman, who serves as the executive producer of Science VS (which is actually owned by Spotify themselves), penned an open letter via email to company CEO Daniel Ek and tweeted a copy of it:

As you can see there, Zukerman claimed Spotify's siding with Joe Rogan as "a slap in the face." She specifically pinpointed Rogan's controversial interview with infectious disease specialist Dr. Robert Malone, which took information about COVID vaccines "repeatedly out of context," as reported by Reuters.

Furthermore, Rogan's interview with Malone will also serve as a topic in a forthcoming episode of Science VS. This comes after the recent row between the popular podcaster/color commentator and veteran musician Neil Young, whose music has been taken down from the streaming platform after voicing out his intense criticism over Rogan's tendency to peddle anti-vax sentiments on his show.

As per Young, Rogan's podcast titled JRE (Joe Rogan Experience), who averages 11 million listeners per episode (via the BBC) poses a danger to more impressionable audiences who may believe the false information being shared. The music streaming service has been under fire as a result of the row between Rogan and Young, with the company's stock tanking afterwards:

Will The Spotify Science VS Podcast's Efforts Be Enough?

What's basically going to happen is this: Science VS will be fact-checking what Spotify clearly won't. And this comes after some analysts are saying that the platform's current efforts to curb misinformation about COVID (and general scientific topics) aren't enough.

According to NBC News, it won't be enough to just display a warning message on content talking about COVID-19 on its platform, which is also designed to help redirect users to more accurate information about vaccines and the pandemic as a whole. They are arguing that instead of this, all misinformed content should simply be removed without hesitation.

This, however, could still be met with opposition from Spotify itself. Amidst the announcement of its "content advisory" feature on COVID-19 topics, the company also claimed that they're doing everything they can to "not be a content sensor."

So far, Spotify claims to have removed roughly 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. But when asked about why Rogan's podcast hasn't been removed, they simply said that JRE's content basically didn't break any enough rules to be taken down.

For now, only time will tell whether Spotify will finally do the right thing.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by RJ Pierce