Spotify is rumored to have removed 70 episodes from The Joe Rogan Experience content on Friday (4/2). However, these deleted episodes have nothing to do with the controversy Spotify is currently facing regarding COVID-19.
One of those who noticed the missing episode was a former guest of Rogan's podcast, Michael Malice, who is also a Ukrainian-American writer and podcaster.
Through his Twitter account he revealed that two of his appearances on the Joe Rogan podcast had been deleted.
Spotify has deleted two of my @joerogan appearances pic.twitter.com/ZjKu8TUgcO
— Michael Malice (@michaelmalice) February 4, 2022
The deletion of this episode arose when controversy and criticism of one of Rogan's episodes spread false information regarding COVID-19 and was judged to be anti-vaccine.
Rogan claims he's only trying to have conversations with interesting people, but critics have consistently argued that podcasters help spread misinformation and harm in the real world.
As a result, rocker Neil Young and folk icon Joni Mitchell pulled their music from Spotify after an open letter signed by more than 250 medical professionals, researchers and professors pointed to Rogan's podcast as evidence that the streaming service provided a platform for disseminators of misinformation. about COVID.
Rogan recently published a video to Spotify in which he defends his choice and promises to get more opposing points of view, although critics don't seem too satisfied with that response.
The pulled episodes don't seem to have anything to do with the ongoing controversy. One of the most worrying episodes was the appearance of the highly criticized vaccine scientist Dr. Robert Malone who stays live on Spotify.
Malone himself was banned from Twitter after the platform ruled he was violating its COVID-19 disinformation policy. YouTube has also removed clips of his appearance on Rogan's podcast for the same reason.
This isn't the first time Spotify has done a cleanup of Rogan's material. Last year, it was reported that Spotify quietly removed more than 40 episodes of Rogan's show.
Unfortunately, both Spotify and Joe Rogan have yet to respond to the information as reported by us from Gizmodo.