‘There are many things that Joe Rogan says that I strongly disagree with and find very offensive,’ Chief Executive Daniel Ek said at a company town hall on Wednesday.

But ‘if we want even a shot at achieving our bold ambitions, it will mean having content on Spotify that many of us may not be proud to be associated with.’

‘Not anything goes, but there will be opinions, ideas, and beliefs that we disagree with strongly and even makes us angry or sad,’ he added.

‘I want to remind everyone of our mission. We want to get to 50 million creators and a billion users. And to be a true platform and achieve this ambition, it’s really critical that creators are able to use their voice independently. And it’s also critical that we have diverse voices on our platform,’ he said at the town hall.

‘We’re not in the business of dictating the discourse that these creators want to have on their shows.’

‘Even though JRE is an exclusive, it is licensed content. It is important to note that we do not have creative control over Joe Rogan’s content.

‘We don’t approve his guests in advance, and just like any other creator, we get his content when he publishes, and then we review it, and if it violates our policies, we take the appropriate enforcement actions.’

We’re defining an entirely new space of tech and media. We’re a very different kind of company, and the rules of the road are being written as we innovate,’ he said.

‘I understand the premise that because we have an exclusive deal with him, it’s really easy to conclude we endorse every word he says and believe the opinions expressed by his guests. That’s absolutely not the case.’