Creative Freedom or Facts?
My take on the Joe Rogan Controversy.
Hey friends!
As creatures of the Internet, we are privy to the laws that govern this World. We are no novices when it comes to rules on the internet. The basics- be yourself, be kind and verify every piece of information before sharing.
When you are a creator these rules become more important, and you are always one tweet away from being called out. So be careful.
What happens then when the biggest global podcaster is alleged to be peddling misinformation? The UFC star turned podcaster Joe Rogan has been recently called out for his “ignorant” remarks regarding Covid-19 Vaccines.
Rogan is known and loved for his unconventional takes and unfiltered conversations, he has also been termed as a “vaccine skeptic” in the past. But the recent controversy emerged due to a conversation he had with virologist Robert Malone, who said that people who are vaccinated after having Covid-19 are at greater risk of adverse side effects. Following this, 270 doctors and health professionals signed a letter to Spotify, calling for Covid misinformation to be addressed.
But this is not all, earlier Rogan has said things like, "This is not a vaccine, this is essentially a gene therapy." which has been refuted as completely false citing the fact that the Vaccine is made of RNA protein which is just acts as a messenger for our DNA and cannot alter our genetic makeup. Rogan also said, "I don't think it's true there's an increased risk of myocarditis from people catching Covid-19 that are young, versus the risk from the vaccine." According to a BBC article, myocarditis “is considerably more common after a Covid infection than after vaccination.”
As expected the internet was wildly divided, people rightfully started asking about accountability from Rogan but also from Spotify, Rogan’s exclusive producer. In 2020, Spotify signed a $100m deal for rights to The Joe Rogan Experience, which has now become its top-performing podcast. Many artists came out in support of the public anger and took down their music from Spotify. Following all this, Spotify soon announced that it will include Covid disclaimers in each episode containing any mention of the virus or the vaccine in order to encourage discretion. Many found this move to be lacking and inefficient. And the controversy became even tenser.
Following all this, Joe Rogan posted an eight-minute-long video on his Instagram, clarifying his stand in the whole controversy. Firstly he re-instated the credentials of his guests who have made the controversial statements. He went on to claim that scientific facts are not as objective and universal as we are making them out to be. “8 months ago if you said, if you get vaccinated you can still catch Covid and you could still spread Covid, you would be removed from social media…now that’s accepted as fact.” Then he went to foreground the fact that he is a guy “having conversations” which are organic, and not always researched and polished. He likes engaging with differing points of view and understanding non-mainstream ideas. He expressed his sorrow over the backlash Spotify has been getting.
Spotify CEO Daniel Ek addressed the controversy saying that the company is "trying to balance creative expression with the safety of our users…But I'm really proud of the steps that we took following the concerns raised by the medical and scientific communities." Spotify has stood strong with Rogan through all this and we feel it will continue to do so.
This controversy has made us reflect on many questions. Most importantly on the question of creative freedom vs licensing. We are a pro-creators platform, we have always rallied for complete creator empowerment. We strongly believe that big media and publishing platforms should allow creators to sustain and scale their creative enterprise at the minimum friction possible. Macro creators yield immense power to influence, instigate and propagate. Hence, comes the role of content regulation and modulation.
However, this is a slippery slope argument, if we start licensing every idea, thought, remark that does not sit well with the conventional established ideas then soon we will reach a point where there is no creative freedom; no place for dissent, no place for inquiry; no place for differences.
The internet will become a tyranny of the majority.
No fixed set of rules can determine what is right and what is wrong, what is truth and what is false.
There will always be another controversy, another thought, another question to be answered. But neither complete free-run of creative freedom nor complete regulation of internet content is the answer.
Thank you so much for reading till the end. Do let me know what are your thoughts about the same. Do you agree? Do you disagree? I would love to know.
Do share this newsletter with all your creators, entrepreneurs, Founders & tech people in your network!
Reach out to me directly on Instagram @pawan_rochwani for any queries or suggestions regarding the same.