NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Like Facebook and Twitter, Spotify is learning the for what is said on its platform.
Podcasting has sprouted as an industry with . That has left Spotify trying to figure out how to keep podcaster Joe Rogan鈥檚 millions of devoted fans happy without further alienating artists and listeners angry about him amplifying vaccine skeptics and using racial slurs.
Spotify wants to be viewed as a technology platform that has limited liability for the material that others create and stream through its service 鈥� a position shared by many social-media companies. But experts say that is difficult to defend after Spotify reportedly spent $100 million to become the sole distributor of 鈥淭he Joe Rogan Experience.鈥�
鈥淭hey are acting like they should get treated as a platform -- when they are acting like a media company,鈥� said Jennifer Grygiel, a Syracuse University communications professor and an expert on social media. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 have it every way you want.鈥�
In an effort to expand scrutiny beyond musicians and listeners, folk-rock singer Neil Young urged Spotify employees late Monday to quit 鈥渂efore it eats up your soul.鈥� Last week, after a group of doctors called out Rogan for his interview of a man who has spread COVID-19 misinformation.
After musician India.Arie revealed last week on Instagram that Rogan had repeatedly used the N-word, he apologized, and Spotify pulled dozens of past episodes from circulation. But Spotify鈥檚 CEO, Daniel Ek, has said that .
Besides, Ek said in a letter to employees late Sunday, Spotify is not the publisher of 鈥淭he Joe Rogan Experience.鈥�
鈥淏ut perception due to our exclusive license implies otherwise,鈥� Ek said. 鈥淪o I鈥檝e been wrestling with how this perception squares with our values.鈥�
As it does with music streaming, Spotify dominates podcasting. It has 44% of all podcast user market share 鈥� Apple, Amazon and Google are each less than half its size, according to Midia Research.
Podcast platforms have long struggled to moderate the shows broadcast on them. They have not followed the steps of other tech companies like Facebook or Twitter that attempt to detect, fact-check and label misleading or false information.
Meta, which owns Facebook, has enlisted the help of journalists, academics, thousands of contract employees and AI technology to detect misinformation. Even then, misinformation around politics and COVID-19 find big audiences in Facebook groups, on WhatsApp messages and Instagram.
Major podcast companies have largely escaped scrutiny about misinformation. Instead, they have taken down individual podcasts that get bad press for violating stated policies or spreading conspiracy theories. That has resulted in a messy patchwork of shows that have been banned on some tech platforms but are readily available elsewhere.
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is banned from Apple, Spotify, YouTube and Facebook 鈥� but not Google Podcasts.
Spotify, YouTube and Twitter kicked off Steve Bannon after he suggested Dr. Anthony Fauci should be beheaded. But you can still hear Bannon on Apple Podcasts.
Podcasts are difficult to moderate, said Valerie Wirtschafter, a data analyst at the Brookings Institute who has researched misinformation on the popular ones. They can run anywhere from 20 minutes to hours, and there are millions of episodes about everything from serial killers to cooking to politics.
鈥淭hat is an unwieldy world,鈥� Wirtschafter said.
Spotify has said that it takes down podcasts that violate its policies against hate speech and break laws. The company publicly revealed its guidelines for the first time following questions raised by Young鈥檚 action, and said it would add content advisories regarding COVID-19.
When companies start paying content creators, as Spotify does with Rogan and as other platforms do with other high-profile influencers, that can change the game. Facebook last summer announced a $1 billion fund for creators, wading further into 鈥渕edia company鈥� territory even as it tries to shed that moniker.
Spotify 鈥渉ad to make a decision that other social media companies are well acquainted with,鈥� said Jared Schroeder, a First Amendment scholar and associate professor at Southern Methodist University. 鈥淭hey were drawn into the war. I don鈥檛 know if there鈥檚 any going back for them.鈥�
Rogan has particular appeal to conservative listeners, but by no means exclusively so. He endorsed Bernie Sanders for president. Like another popular media figure, Fox News鈥� Tucker Carlson, he often portrays himself as someone who is simply asking uncomfortable questions 鈥� and he鈥檚 most upsetting to people who don鈥檛 listen to him regularly.
Spotify is caught between artists and customers upset enough by Rogan鈥檚 language to quit the service, and the many fans who would claim him as a victim of 鈥渃ancel culture鈥� if the company were to make the expensive decision to cut him loose.
鈥淯ltimately, this comes down to the issue of political polarization and how the big tech is caught up in the country鈥檚 culture wars,鈥� said Weiai Xu, a communication professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Spotify risks sending a chilling message to other podcasters that the company won鈥檛 have their back if it backs away from Rogan, besides putting a severe dent in its business plan.
鈥淚f Spotify ends up having to backtrack on Joe Rogan there鈥檚 a risk it鈥檒l be seen as backtracking on podcasts,鈥� said Mark Mulligan, managing director of Midia Research.
Spotify鈥檚 Ek said it could take months to know the impact of the controversy on the company. The market research firm Forrester polled people on Feb. 1 and found that most Spotify users had no intention of cancelling their subscription, but there were many who considered it.
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Associated Press reporters Tali Arbel, Marcy Gordon, Matt O鈥橞rien, Barbara Ortutay and Amanda Seitz contributed to this report.
David Bauder, The Associated Press
