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A loud message interrupts the popular Spotify podcast: "This program contains elements of misinformation and disinformation."

It could happen, if a group of more than 250 medical and science professionals who co-signed this week to Spotify get their way. They asked the media giant to adopt a policy addressing misinformation, following several instances of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation mentioned on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast in particular.

On Rogan's podcast, Robert Malone, MD, who has often opposed pandemic public health measures, recently shared a theory that Americans are being manipulated into getting vaccinated. Malone compared the effort to the Nazis mobilizing the rest of Germany.

His comments and their quick spread through social media and cable networks incited organizers to draft the open letter and seek co-signers.

In the open letter they headlined as, "A call from the global scientific and medical communities to implement a misinformation policy," the group wrote: "By allowing the propagation of false and societally harmful assertions, Spotify is enabling its hosted media to damage public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in the credibility of data-driven guidance offered by medical professionals." They called the recent Rogan podcast "a relevant example of the platform's failure to mitigate the damage it is causing."

"Though Spotify has a responsibility to mitigate the spread of misinformation on its platform, the company presently has no misinformation policy," they continued. Some of Rogan's statements and his decision to interview Malone are "not only objectionable and offensive, but also medically and culturally dangerous."

"As scientists, we face backlash and resistance as the public grows to distrust our research and expertise. As educators and science communicators, we are tasked with repairing the public's damaged understanding of science and medicine. As physicians, we bear the arduous weight of a pandemic that has stretched our medical systems to their limits and only stands to be exacerbated by the anti-vaccination sentiment woven into [Rogan's efforts]."

Unvaccinated people ages 12 to 34 in Washington state were 12 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID than those who are fully vaccinated, they stated, citing state data. (The odds have now declined to eight-fold, updated Wednesday.) The average age of Rogan's several million listeners

"Having things like this on the Joe Rogan podcast gives a platform to these people and makes it a false balance. This is what really bothers me," Katrine Wallace, PhD, an epidemiologist at the University of Illinois-Chicago, told Rolling Stone. "These are fringe ideas not backed in science, and having it on a huge platform makes it seem there are two sides to this issue. And there are really not. The overwhelming evidence is the vaccine works, and it is safe."

The letter was signed by a mix of medical and science professionals -- including medical students, residents, and fellows. Endorsers also featured physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners. There were also science communicators, professors, a chief science officer, and nurses. The list of endorsers is ordered alphabetically by first name, with the lead signature belonging to Adriana Sosa, DO, a resident at Valley Children's Healthcare near Fresno, California.

The idea came about after Stanford psychiatry fellow Ben Rein, PhD, voiced his concern about the Malone interview to Abbie Richards, a research fellow focused on misinformation and disinformation at . Rein and Richards could not be reached by press time.

Spotify did not respond to a request for comment. The company in April had that it "prohibits content on the platform which promotes dangerous false, deceptive, or misleading content about COVID-19 that may cause offline harm and/or pose a direct threat to public health. When content that violates this standard is identified it is removed from the platform."

Rogan's interview with Malone remained active on the site as of Thursday afternoon, MedPage Today confirmed.

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