PRINCE Harry and Meghan Markle have stuck with Spotify despite slamming the streaming giant over its anti-vax controversy.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had come under pressure to ditch their reported £18million mega-deal with the company after it was accused of hosting anti-jab content by US comedian Joe Rogan.
In a statement released over the weekend, they said they had spoken with Spotify bosses about their concerns.
But the couple insisted they were committed to continuing their own deal with the tech giant “to ensure changes to its platform are made to help address this public health crisis”.
They said: “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 mis- and disinformation every day.
“Last April, our co-founders began expressing concerns to our partners at Spotify about the all too real consequences of Covid misinformation on its platform.
We look to Spotify to meet this moment and are committed to continuing our work together as it does.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex
“We have continued to express our concerns to Spotify to ensure changes to its platform are made to help address this public health crisis.
“We look to Spotify to meet this moment and are committed to continuing our work together as it does.”
Spotify has previously said it bans “false or dangerous deceptive content about Covid-19, which may cause offline harm and/or pose a direct threat to public health.”
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And on Sunday, the company announced plans to add a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes discussion about Covid.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said in a statement: “This advisory will direct listeners to our dedicated COVID-19 Hub, a resource that provides easy access to data-driven facts, up-to-date information as shared by scientists, physicians, academics and public health authorities around the world, as well as links to trusted sources.”
The platform is home to podcast ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ – the top-rated show on the site – as well as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Archewell Audio.
SUSSEX STATEMENT
Rogan is accused of spreading life-threatening lies about Covid and vaccines.
The 54-year-old has stirred controversy with his views on the pandemic, government mandates and jabs to control the spread of the coronavirus.
And he has since vowed to ‘do his best’ to try and balance out his controversial opinions.
Recording a ten minute clip of himself on Instagram, he said: “My pledge to you is that I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people’s perspectives, so that we can maybe find a better point of view.
“I don’t want to just show the contrary opinion to what the narrative is. I want to show all kinds of opinions so that we can all figure what’s going on…”
Vaccines are safe. The Government began recommending a booster as Omicron surged – leading Brits out of the crisis without a further lockdown.
Just four months ago, Harry hit out at news and social media outlets for “peddling lies” about vaccines, claiming the only way to “overcome” Covid was to “break the system” of misinformation.
And he has also openly begged for vaccine equity, saying the vaccine should be distributed “to everyone everywhere”.
But royal biographer Angela Levin, who spent a year with Harry, said she believes he’ll never give up his Spotify deal.
Read ourMeghan and Harry live blogfor the latest updates
She told Sun Online: “Harry has been accusing many countries, including the United Kingdom for not doing enough to vaccinate people around the world in poor countries.
“Now here he is working and earning money from a company [who have employed someone] who is an anti-vaxxer.”
Spotify has been waiting more than a year for Meghan and Harry to produce further podcast content.
The company has now taken the Sussexes’ output “into their own hands”.
The streaming giant said it was looking forward to a “full-scale” launch of shows in 2021 – but nothing appeared.
And after the lengthy wait, a host of in-house producers have been hired to finally deliver content for the royals.
RIGHT ROYAL ROW
Bosses are currently recruiting new in-house staff to work with Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Audio for a show that features “the voices of high profile women.”
But any material they produce from now on will have to compete for hits against Rogan’s show.
Ms Levin said: “I think there’s no chance Harry would leave [Spotify].
“One, because he has not left Netflix even though it has been incredibly rude about his mother and his father and all the Royal Family.
“He doesn’t seem to care.
“He also now has quite a reputation for being a hypocrite after lecturing us not to fly but flying himself on a private plane.
“He’s been very angry about [the lack of access to vaccines in poorer country’s] and is working with someone who is campaigning the exact opposite.”
Meanwhile, it’s been suggested that Meghan could relaunch her lifestyle blog after she applied to reactivate trademark name The Tig.
The Duchess launched the blog in 2014 when she was an actress in the legal drama Suits. It’s named after her favourite Tignanello wine.
The Joe Rogan row
Meghan and Harry’s note isn’t the first time Spotify has faced controversy over Rogan.
In early January, a group of doctors, scientists and medics signed an open letter to the streaming giant citing Rogan’s “concerning history” when it comes to talking about the pandemic.
It came after Rogan interviewed virologist Dr Robert Malone, who worked on early research behind vaccines but is now critical of them.
Fact-checkers have fiercely disputed Dr Malone’s claim that vaccination puts people who have already had Covid at higher risk.
Dr Malone also said world leaders had hypnotised the public into supporting vaccines, drawing parallels between the pandemic and the rise of the Nazi party in 1930s Germany.
Rogan himself says he’s “not an anti-vax person” and believes the jabs are “safe”.
“I… encourage many people to take them,” he said.
But he refused to back down on claims that young people did not “need” the vaccine.
Rogan has also been criticised in the US for touting the anti-parasite drug ivermectin as a treatment for coronavirus.
Neil Young’s music has been pulled from Spotify after he called for Rogan’s dismissal.
The performer told the company this week: “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”