Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., on Thursday lauded Spotify for standing up for podcaster Joe Rogan’s right to freedom of speech.
"In the era of Cancel Culture, it’s great to see @Spotify stand up for Joe Rogan’s right to free speech," she tweeted. "It’s a shame that more big tech companies can’t learn this lesson."
Her remarks came as Neil Young began removing his music from the streaming platform after the singer-songwriter delivered an ultimatum to the company to choose him or Rogan, Variety reported.
Young took issue with statements made on Rogan's podcast, ''The Joe Rogan Experience,'' that were critical of COVID-19 vaccines.
''Spotify has recently become a very damaging force via its public misinformation and lies about COVID,'' Young posted in a statement on his website. ''I first learned of this problem by reading that 200-plus doctors had joined forces, taking on the dangerous, life-threatening COVID falsehoods found in Spotify programming."
And in a now-deleted letter, Young wrote: ''With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE [Joe Rogan Experience], which is hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world's largest podcast and has tremendous influence,'' the musician wrote. "They can have Rogan or Young. Not both."
Spotify dodged the criticism.
''We want all the world's music and audio content to be available to Spotify users," a spokesperson said. "With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators.”
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