Premium: Spotify rises to the Rogan/Young challenge – by applying Darwin wisdom

We're big fans of Spotify. The company's stock is held in both BizNews share portfolios – and we're in the process of moving our podcasts over to Spotify-owned Megaphone. We're also avid consumers of insights from its visionary founder and CEO Daniel Ek. Even more so after the past few days.

The Swedish-headquartered multinational was thrust into the spotlight after Neil Young and Joni Mitchell very publicly ditched the platform, encouraging other musicians to follow. Their beef is with podcaster Joe Rogan, who, they claim, is spreading disinformation about Covid-19, vaccines and benefits of ivermectin.

The piece by WSJ editorial board member Holman Jenkins is insightful. More relevant, however, is Spotify's response. It stuck with the principle of free speech – unlike Facebook (now Meta) which is paying dearly for a self-righteous censorship policy (see link below – shares dropped 20% overnight).

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