https://www.instagram.com/tv/CZYQ_nDJi6G/?utm_medium=share_sheet
I'm sure plenty of people's first reactions to this were similar to mine.
I first asked... which claims made by Rogan or his guests are considered "COVID misinformation" by Young, given he didn't specify which claims he meant?
In order to make an educated guess, I pulled up the very episode I assumed he meant... increasing the listenership of whatever dangerous ideas Young didn't want the public to hear.
This is the problem with prohibition. Attempts to deplatform first make many curious as to what the forbidden ideas are, then distrustful of those who want to ban them as authorities, and these kinds of curiosities can increase rather than decrease listenership and therefore spread the very ideas that people like Young want suppressed.
Young can choose not to associate with Spotify. Spotify can choose to keep or drop Rogan or anyone else. Nobody serious is advocating a law trying to make Spotify public or for them to be forced by law to keep or discard any artist or program or to make Young stay.
But if Young's intent was to combat what he sees (probably rightfully, depending on which claim he has isssue with) as misinformation, he likely accomplished the opposite. If his intent was just to get off Spotify because he didn't want to share a platform with Rogan, great. But it comes at the cost of risking more people listening to ideas he finds dangerous for people to consume.
Refusing to engage is rightfully seen by most people as simply conceding defeat.