The controversy over Spotify and Joe Rogan has sent a signal that increased censorship is coming to podcasting platforms just as it has for social media sites, Republicans and conservatives say.
Top House Republicans view the new debate over audio content moderation as a signal that they should fight more aggressively for federal legislation that would curb online censorship by removing tech companies’ liability protections and increasing competition among social media platforms.
Spotify said on Sunday that it would add content advisories to all of Joe Rogan’s podcast episodes that deal with the coronavirus in response to intense criticism of Rogan for hosting scientists whom some government officials and liberal musicians alleged spread dangerous misinformation about the virus and the vaccine.
Rogan, in defending himself from the accusations, said he was all-right with the additional content labels and that he would do more research into controversial topics and interview people with mainstream opinions alongside alternative ones.
Republicans are worried that the pressure Spotify and Rogan are facing is indicative of a slippery slope when it comes to podcast censorship.
“Spotify’s response looks a lot like all the other Big tech companies’ responses. They seem to be going down the same pathway of acquiescing to the cancel culture orthodoxy,” Republican Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina told the Washington Examiner.
The GOP says that censoring content or forcing additional disclosures is not the way to tackle misinformation.
“If somebody finds a podcast so unworthy and unholy, then don’t listen to it. Nobody ever sought to destroy alternative radio stations and counterculture people back in the day,” Bishop added.
BREAKING UP BIG TECH WOULD ADDRESS CONSERVATIVE FEARS OF BIAS, TOP DEMOCRAT SAYS
Other Republicans threatened to cancel their Spotify subscriptions if further censorship occurs.
“If Joe Rogan announced tomorrow that he was going to a new platform, I would probably cancel my Spotify subscription and go there instead,” Republican Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana told the Washington Examiner.
“Spotify executives are getting a little too cute trying to ride the fence by backing up Rogan and at the same time trying to appease the loud left-wing minority. If they continue down this path, I think there’ll be a price to pay,” said Banks, who is chairman of the influential Republican Study Committee in Congress.
Rogan’s decision to host controversial scientists who are opposed to mask-wearing and coronavirus restrictions and have expressed doubts regarding the vaccines’ efficacy, such as Dr. Robert Malone and Dr. Peter McCullough, has caused strong blowback from scientists and liberal influencers.
A group of 270 scientists, doctors, and academics released a letter on Jan. 12 requesting that Spotify prevent Rogan from making “misleading and false claims on his podcast, provoking distrust in science and medicine.”
Some famous musicians, such as Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, and Nils Lofgren, as well as fellow Spotify-exclusive podcaster Brene Brown, have left Spotify or threatened to leave in protest of Rogan’s content.
Earlier this week, Rogan pointed out that he had also hosted mainstream doctors, such as CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, White House adviser Dr. Michael Osterholm, and Dr. Peter Hotez of Baylor College of Medicine.
Republicans say that all the pressure Rogan is facing could actually boost his popularity.
“The Left is now going after the biggest audience in the world with Rogan, but I bet his 11 million listeners will go even higher. This attack from the Left will benefit him,” Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio told the Washington Examiner.
“This incident is interesting because they’re going after speech itself, literally the spoken word, which in some ways is more of a punch. It’s more of an attack on the First Amendment, because we’ve never seen it on audio before,” said Jordan, the top Republican on the powerful House Judiciary Committee, which is in charge of regulating Big Tech companies.
Jordan said that the controversy around Spotify and Rogan has underscored the need for Republicans to strip away Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a provision that protects social media companies from liability for content posted by their users.
Doing so would allow users who have been censored on social media to have a private right of action to sue platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and now Spotify for unfairly removing content, Jordan said.
Jordan also wants to pass bills that would expedite lawsuits related to First Amendment concerns and use antitrust laws to make the social media marketplace more competitive.
Conservatives say that Spotify, like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, has been forced to resolve thorny debates around content moderation and that increased censorship seems inevitable.
“As much as I don’t want him to, Joe Rogan loses when it comes to not being censored. It may be a long battle, but the deck is stacked against him,” said Dan Gainor, vice president at the Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog that tracks censorship on Big Tech platforms.
“So far, Spotify has tried to be for free speech, you have to give them credit. But the forces of evil are out to stop them,” said Gainor.
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Gainor added that Rogan is expected to face increased pressure to censor his content on Spotify or alter the kind of guests he chooses to interview, which could lead him to lose trust among his listeners.
