Critics have contended that Joe Rogan’s podcast, hosted by Spotify, promotes vaccine-skeptical guests and boosts the spread of misinformation about COVID-19.

Neil Young let it be known that Spotify had to choose between him and Rogan. Not surprisingly, Spotify, which invested $100 million in a relationship with Rogan in 2020, was willing to let Young go. Rogan’s podcast, after all, is the most popular podcast of all time.

Some see the musician as an intellectual hero for taking a stand. Yet Young’s own record in this area is far from pristine. For years, he has spread scientific misinformation about GMO foods. While experts have consistently judged GMO foods to be both safe and useful, Young in one song referred to them as poison. As a guest on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in 2016, Young suggested that GMO foods caused “terrible diseases.”

It is hard not to wonder to what degree anti-biotech sentiments like these, ironically, might have fed the current skepticism of COVID-19 vaccines.

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And what if Spotify did heed calls to drop Rogan’s podcast? Rogan might end up on another gated service. But if he returned to fully open-access podcasting, guests making scientifically dubious claims might have access to an even larger audience. So what’s the point of attempting this kind of cancellation?

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