In just its first month of 2022, rock star Neil Young has spread anti-vaccine disinformation to boycott comedian Joe Rogan’s podcast, demanding that Spotify, the sound platform that exclusively features Joe Rogan’s podcast, remove his music. The incident continued until February, and Spotify chose to continue the contract with Joe Rogan for a price of $100 million. Joe Rogan himself also emphasized that he did not spread misinformation, he was just sharing “opinions”. In the past, content censorship and freedom of speech disputes only occurred on video and social platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, etc., and they have also quietly entered the field of sound platforms that have always been unmanned and wild.

Related points of contention include that Spotify believes that it is only a platform for providing user-uploaded content and does not have the right to censor content; there are also claims that the exclusive licensing relationship between Joe Rogan and Spotify makes Spotify itself more like a publisher, and should be responsible for publishing. Some people think that the opaque community rules set by Spotify are the key to the problem that cannot be solved; some people suggest that when Spotify’s algorithm is helping users select content and amplifying certain voices, and also charging advertising fees, It can no longer pretend to be a neutral platform.

Many sound platforms, including Spotify, ranging from international Apple and Amazon Podcasts to local services such as KKbox or SoundOn, have to face an existential dilemma that plagues many modern or online media operators: whether or not the platform should provide users Responsibility for content? And how to moderate user-published content without compromising the business model that made it successful in the first place? In this forum, stakeholders will be invited to put forward the means that can be taken in dealing with relevant disputes from different viewpoints.

Time: 2022/5/19 02:00-04:00PM

Venue: IEAT International Conference Center Meeting 8F Room 2 (No. 350, Songjiang Road, Zhongshan District, Taipei City)

Moderator: Chen, Yi-Ning,National Cheng Chi University
College of Communication,Full-time Professor

Panelists:

• Wang, Yi-Yu,Department Head,SoundOn
• Du, Sheng-tsung,Chair/Associate Professor,Department Of Radio And Television,Ming Chuan University
• Chen, Yen-shen ,Associate Professor,Institute Of Communication Studies,National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
• Yang, Kuei-Chih,Host,Podcast《法客電台 By Plain Law Movment》