Why Spotify must stand up to the luvvie bullies trying to stifle free speech

Joe Rogan is a heroic broadcaster.

You don't have to agree with every guest he has on his Spotify podcast or every opinion he shares about Covid-19 to admit the bloke has blown up the broadcasting model at a time when once great international news services like CNN, Sky News and, yup, the BBC have become highly censored, deeply biased and scaremongering obsessed shadows of their former selves, especially since the latest coronavirus was most likely leaked from a Chinese lab in 2019.

Neil Young was a heroic musician whose back catalogue is a treasured, if commercially insignificant, part of any music streaming service's offering to subscribers.

But the prospect of entitled celebrities using their fame to throttle free speech has hit a chilling new nadir with Young's Spotify strop over The Joe Rogan Experience.

Earlier this week, the rocker published a since-deleted letter to his manager and record company on his website, threatening: 'I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform. They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.'

Young appeared to be joining an organised campaign by a 270-strong group of doctors and scientists who had signed an open letter earlier this month demanding Spotify reprimand Rogan – who they signed to an exclusive deal last year worth over $100 million – because of, what they claimed, was a 'concerning history of broadcasting misinformation, particularly regarding the Covid-19 pandemic'.

In a farcical twist, it turned out only 87 of the signatories were medical doctors, with the rest an array of luvvie teachers, psychologists and engineers.

Young went even further, writing furiously: '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.'

This is not the first time the notoriously prickly Young has gone to war with Spotify. In 2015, he demanded his songs be removed because he took issue with their sound quality.

But attacking Rogan in his latest hissy fit has seen the boycott explode into the mainstream, with the battle lines drawn for both sides of the Covid culture war.

The woke streaming giant is holding firm and not giving into the ageing rocker for now – and I respect that.

After confirming the process of removing Young's music had begun, they released a conciliatory statement saying: 'We want all the world's music and audio content to be available to Spotify users. 

'With that comes great responsibility in balancing both safety for listeners and freedom for creators. We regret Neil's decision to remove his music from Spotify, but hope to welcome him back soon.'

Further, the company, in a comment that I imagine would make Rogan bristle, boasted they have removed over 20,000 podcasts related to Covid since the start of the pandemic.

I'd love to know how many of those podcasts purged by Spotify contained so-called misinformation or conspiracy theories that are now widely accepted by the scientific and media establishment.

Like the fact Covid-19 was most likely leaked from a Wuhan lab, a highly credible theory that I have been talking about since March 2020, but which big tech labelled misinformation, thanks to a disturbing cover up campaign by influential scientists in cahoots with the media.

Or the fact cloth masks are pretty bloody hopeless at stopping the spread of Covid.

Or the fact Covid vaccines, while highly effective at reducing hospitalisations and deaths from the virus for those who are vulnerable, don't stop transmission, as the latest Omicron wave has proven beyond doubt.

Or the fact that the new and experimental MRNA vaccines have a small but nonetheless evident risk attached of sparking the heart condition myocarditis, especially for young men.

Or the fact draconian lockdowns have become more about world leaders attempting to control their people on the march towards a biosecurity state, complete with digital medical IDs, than reducing the death rate from Covid.

Or the fact many of those counted as dying with Covid were infected with the virus while in hospital but passed away from other causes.

Or the fact governments across the globe were intending to make vaccination mandatory in order to live a normal life, with penalties including fines, increased taxes and being banned from much of civilised society.

Or the fact the vaccination programme would continue for many years, with folk expected to have a fourth, fifth or sixth jab.

My point is that many broadcasters and journalists – including myself – who dared to question the Covid orthodoxy and the highly damaging laws being inflicted were at the

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