ISD joins Spotify Safety Advisory Council to help curb the spread of misinformation on its platform

ISD’s Head of Counter-Extremism Policy & Research, Milo Comerford, and Head of Policy & Programmes, Henry Tuck, will be representing ISD as founding members of the newly launched Spotify Safety Advisory Council.

As reported by many outlets, the council was formed in response to a series of incidents including COVID-19 misinformation found on Spotify’s exclusive podcast with Joe Rogan. The group is made up by experts in “areas that are key to navigating the online safety space”. Members aim to independently keep watch over the platform’s content and safety policies, while respecting creators’ expressions in their content. We will also be advising the company on their approach to equity, impact and academic research

Members’ opinions and recommendations are non-binding and won’t be enforcement decisions, but instead are meant to generate feedback for Spotify as they shape high-level policies and ensure they are consistently applied around the world.

“In the months ahead, we (Spotify) will work closely with founding members to expand the council, with the goal of broadening regional and linguistic representation as well as adding additional experts in the equity and impact space”, Spotify said in a statement.

Coverage on the announcement can be found on the Hollywood Reporter, Report Door, Silicon Republic, Complete Music Update, Exclaim, and Digital Music News.

Read the full statement and about other council members here.