Greater than 4 months after Spotify confronted backlash for permitting COVID-19 misinformation to unfold on its unique podcast with Joe Rogan, the audio large is forming an outdoor council to assist information the corporate on its content material and security insurance policies.
The Spotify Security Advisory Council is tasked with serving to the corporate “evolve its insurance policies and merchandise in a secure means whereas ensuring we respect creator expression,” in accordance with an announcement shared on Monday. Although the council will supply suggestions, it won’t make “enforcement selections” about particular content material or creators, permitting Spotify to stay the arbiter of its content material insurance policies and disputes.
The formation of an outdoor council follows related efforts from social media firms like Fb, which launched its Oversight Board in 2020 to evaluate particular instances and make selections on whether or not to uphold or reverse penalties and different coverage selections carried out by Fb. The board’s selections are supposed to be binding, which means Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg just isn’t allowed to stray from the board’s rulings, although the corporate just isn’t sure by any suggestions made by the Oversight Board. Final yr, the board decided on its first case and upheld Fb’s resolution to ban former President Donald Trump from the platform.
As for Spotify’s council, the group of outdoor members will solely present suggestions to assist inform how the corporate approaches its “high-level insurance policies and the interior processes,” Spotify mentioned.
Founding members on the Spotify council embrace the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s Katherine Pieper and Stacy L. Smith, the Harmful Speech Challenge’s Susan Benesch and Tonei Glavinic, the Middle for Democracy and Expertise’s Emma Llansó, and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue’s Henry Tuck and Milo Comerford. (See the complete listing of members right here.) The council is anticipated to broaden over the approaching months to extend its illustration throughout totally different areas and dialects, in addition to so as to add extra specialists centered on fairness.
This text was initially printed by The Hollywood Reporter.
