From the beginning of the pandemic, Spotify has been a go-to site for false statements about the threat represented by COVID-19, the steps to take in fighting the spread of disease, and the effectiveness of vaccines. All the while, the streaming service has responded to complaints about the propagation of not just misinformation, but deliberate disinformation, with claims that they have a “consistent policy” designed to help. But a look at those policies shows that they’re not designed to halt the spread of disinformation. Spotify’s policies are designed to protect and encourage lies, rather than lives.
“We have detailed content policies in place,” says a repeatedly published statement from the company. They also claim to have “removed over 20,000 podcast episodes related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.” But what those policies actually might be, Spotify refused to make public. In fact, the actual details of this policy seemed invisible, even to the service’s content providers.
In the last few weeks, the pressure on Spotify to address this issue has increased, as rock legends Neil Young and Joni Mitchell have protested having their music on the same service that carries such constant agents of disinformation as podcaster Joe Rogan. Now tech and entertainment site The Verge has gotten a look at Spotify’s actual policies. And what they found is a system expressly designed to leave holes large enough to drive truckloads of horse-dewormer through.