Spotify, Joe Rogan, and the debate on balancing creator freedom with content moderation

Elana Morris

Spotify, the audio-streaming platform, faced a challenge familiar to many tech platforms and media brands as recent controversy sparked discussion on content moderation.

Audio streaming platform Spotify is undergoing a challenge familiar to many media and tech firms: namely, how to balance content moderation with creator expression.

In January 2022, iconic musicians Neil Young and Joni Mitchell both opted to remove their discography from the platform; their decisions were a result of Spotify hosting a hotly debated episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience”, in which the comedian and mega-podcaster interviewed an infectious-disease researcher who raised doubts and conspiracies around the COVID-19 vaccine.

It’s an issue that has come to the forefront of the broader online marketing conversation, especially as social media...

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