Prince Harry, Meghan Markle urge Spotify to make changes after Joe Rogan COVID row
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Archewell production company has said they are continuing to press Spotify to make changes to address the "serious harms" presented by COVID misinformation on its platform. According to Variety, the erstwhile British royal couple has an exclusive multiyear podcast deal with Spotify, although to date they have released only one short holiday audio special.
In a statement issued on Sunday, Archewell said Harry and Meghan first reached out to Spotify in April 2021 to express "concerns" about "the all-too-real consequences of COVID-19 misinformation on its platform."
The statement did not call out Joe Rogan, but it was last April when the extremely popular podcaster drew widespread criticism after he suggested people don't need to get COVID vaccines if they are young and healthy on 'The Joe Rogan Experience', which is exclusively distributed by Spotify.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who last year officially parted ways with the British Royal Family, are speaking out on the issue after Spotify removed Neil Young's catalog from the streamer last week due to his objections over Spotify's distribution of the Rogan podcast.
"Spotify has recently become a very damaging force via its public misinformation and lies about COVID," Young said, citing an open letter from 260-plus health professionals calling on Spotify to crack down on coronavirus falsehoods in Rogan's podcast.
Subsequently, Joni Mitchell also said she would be removing her music from Spotify.
"Since the inception of Archewell, we have worked to address the real-time global misinformation crisis. Hundreds of millions of people are affected by the serious harms of rampant mis- and disinformation every day. Last April, our co-founders began
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