Spotify’s COVID-19 content warning is bullshit
It’s a text-only label
What’s a good health-related content advisory?
Chhavi Sachdev, the founder of Sonologue Podcasting productions, believes it must move beyond just text:
“Episodes with sensitive content must include an advisory in an audio format, and should be from a neutral voice (not from the host). Plus, if it’s health-related, it should spell out unverified claims, and point to the information from trusted sources.”
Amit Doshi, head of India-based production house IVM podcasts, agrees — but pointed out “how hard” it is to implement.
This is a serious problem, so we asked Spotify how it plans to detect episodes that contain COVID-19 information, especially when it publishes thousands of podcasts every day.
We’ll update the story if we receive a response.
Platforms and the COVID-19 misinformation problem
Last year, after governments started administering vaccines, online platforms likeYouTube, Twitter,Instagram, and Facebookfaced a massive misinformation problem. After much criticism, these companies started booting out content withvaccinemisinformation.
For example, Twittertaggedproblematic posts like this:
Spotify has also been under fire, but it’s largelymaintained the stance that it’s a platform, not a publisher— so it doesn’t want to exercise any editorial control. This is clearly a falsity.
While Spotify’s proposed content advisory tag is a step in the right direction, it doesn’t go far enough.
Dr. Harjit Singh Bhatti, a former president of the resident doctors association at AIIMS, India’s top public hospitals, compared these labels to warnings on cigarette packets, which are often ignored:
Studies suggest that labels are effective if theydebunk the information using verified resources. However, just posting a warning might not be effective.
Notably, when you use visual platforms like YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, you can see these labels while scrolling. On an audio-first platform like Spotify, the chances of you noticing them goes down drastically.
As Doshi said, the effectiveness of these kinds of solutions ends up looking like “lipstick on a pig.”
One thing’s clear: Spotify wants to shy away from the responsibility of policing itself and the content it hosts. But, aswe’ve seen with Facebook, the whole “platform not publisher” argument doesn’t have legs.
Spotify’s reckoning might not be now, but it won’t be long. And a few warning labels won’t stop its eventual comeuppance.
Story byIvan Mehta
Ivan covers Big Tech, India, policy, AI, security, platforms, and apps for TNW. That’s one heck of a mixed bag. He likes to say “Bleh.“Ivan covers Big Tech, India, policy, AI, security, platforms, and apps for TNW. That’s one heck of a mixed bag. He likes to say “Bleh.”
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