Neil Young has demanded that Spotify removes his music, due to vaccine misinformation spread by podcaster Joe Rogan on the streaming service.
“They can have Rogan or Young. Not both,” wrote the star in a letter to his management and record label.
Rogan has been criticised for airing vaccine-sceptical views, and promoting debunked claims about treating Covid-19 with the anti-parasite drug ivermectin.
Spotify, which paid $100m for rights to the podcast in 2020, is yet to comment.
Young’s comments came in an open letter, which was briefly posted to his Neil Young Archives website before being removed.
“I want you to let Spotify know immediately today that I want all my music off their platform,” he wrote.
“I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them. Please act on this immediately today and keep me informed of the time schedule.
“With an estimated 11 million listeners per episode, JRE [the Joe Rogan Experience] which is hosted exclusively on Spotify, is the world’s largest podcast and has tremendous influence,” Young continued.
“Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, though the company presently has no misinformation policy.” (BBC)