Spotify explain why they won’t censor Joe Rogan podcast episodes

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek believes the music platform does not have editorial responsibility for the Joe Rogan Podcast when it comes to censoring controversial topics or viewpoints.

Ever since it launched all the way back in 2009, the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast has dealt with a huge range of topics, much to the delight of fans.

The UFC commentator has brought on esports stars to give him a better insight into their background, movie stars to discuss the rigors of filming, and of course, he gets into wild and wacky conspiracies too.

Some theories and viewpoints have landed Rogan in hot water on several occasions in the past, and Spotify was accused of censoring him when they brought his podcast over, given that some previous podcast uploads were missing from his back catalog.

While Rogan himself has said that Spotify doesn’t have too much of a handle on his content, and he’s working with them to improve things like the video side of the shows, the platform has now weighed in.

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Speaking to Axios, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek was quizzed on whether he believed the streaming service has “editorial responsibility” over the podcast, given they’ve brought it under their umbrella, and whether or not they can censor it.

“Joe Rogan is just one out of eight million creators on the platform,” Ek stated. “We have a lot of really well-paid rappers on Spotify too that make tens of millions of dollars, if not more, each year from Spotify. And, we don’t dictate what they’re putting in their songs either.”

Timestamp of 5:20

While some fans will, undoubtedly, disagree with the Spotify CEO, he’s at least moved to clear a few things up.

The JRE Podcast continues to go from strength to strength on the streaming platform, with Spotify making similar moves for other shows as they look to corner the podcast space.