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Neil Young threatens to take music off Spotify due to COVID-19 misinformation

The 76-year-old has since deleted his open letter to Spotify
Neil Young
Posted at 10:51 AM, Jan 25, 2022
and last updated 2022-01-25 15:24:06-05

Neil Young has threatened to get his music off Spotify.

Young wrote an open letter to his management and record label, saying the streaming music app is spreading false information about the COVID-19 vaccine by allowing Joe Rogan’s podcast on the platform.

In his letter, he wrote, “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”

Rogan has questioned COVID-19 vaccines on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience.

After becoming infected with coronavirus in 2021, the podcast host said he took ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug that has no proven benefit against COVID-19.

Young cited Rogan’s 11 million listeners per episode and said his podcast has “tremendous influence.”

The musician warned that “Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform.”

He has since deleted his letter from his website.

However, he is not the only person to have raised concerns about Rogan’s podcast on Spotify.

In December, 270 doctors, physicians and science educators signed an open letter to Spotify, asking the platform to stop spreading Rogan’s “baseless conspiracy theories.”