Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have had their say on the ongoing Covid-19 Spotify saga.
The couple have claimed that they reached out to the streaming site over their concerns of the spreading of Covid misinformation last year.
This comes after singers Neil Young and Joni Mitchell confirmed the removal of their music from the site, due to the spreading of false and conspiratorial information regarding Covid-19 on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast on Spotify.
Since then, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have released this statement through their spokesperson.
The statement was shared online by journalist Omid Scobie. It also claimed that the couple had voiced their concerns of “the real-time global misinformation crisis” to Spotify.
The statement began by saying, “Since the inception of Archewell [the pair’s non-profit organization], we have worked to address the real-time global misinformation crisis. Hundreds of millions of people are affected by the serious harms of rampant mis- and disinformation every day".
It also added, “Last April, our co-founders began expressing concerns to our partners at Spotify about the all too real consequences of COVID-19 misinformation on its platform. We have continued to express our concerns to Spotify to ensure changes to its platform are made to help address this public health crisis".
“We look to Spotify to meet this moment and are committed to continuing our work together as it does".
Harry and Meghan had also signed a deal with Spotify in 2020. They agreed to host and produce podcasts under their brand Archewell Studio.
Following Young's boycott, Joe Rogan also had his say.
“I’m very sorry that they feel that way”, he posted via Instagram. “I most certainly don’t want that. I’m a Neil Young fan, I’ve always have been a Neil Young fan”.
“I don’t always get it right. I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people perspectives so we can maybe find a better point of view”, he added.
