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Joe Rogan Denies Spotify Censorship Rumors, According to Alex Jones

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  • The full library of “The Joe Rogan Experience” was set to debut on Spotify Tuesday following Rogan’s licensing deal with the platform in May, valued at more than $100 million. 
  • However, many noticed that dozens of episodes featuring controversial and far-right guests were missing, including Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, and others. 
  • While some called this censorship, others hesitated and were confused by missing episodes of guests like actor Tommy Chong and comedian Nick Kroll.
  • Alex Jones issued a statement saying he spoke to Rogan, who said Spotify is not censoring him and explained that there were migration issues with corrupted files.
  • Jones also claimed more content will be migrated over, but after the podcast moves exclusively to Spotify on Dec. 31, 100 of Rogan’s favorite episodes will remain on YouTube, where Rogan believes they’ll probably get more views.

Fans Notice Missing Episodes of “The Joe Rogan Experience” on Spotify 

Podcast host Joe Rogan has denied claims that Spotify is censoring his content after rumors circulated online Tuesday, according to controversial far-right personality Alex Jones.

Rogan’s podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” finally debuted on Spotify earlier that day as part of his exclusive deal with the platform– a deal worth more than $100 million. However, the debut was met with a ton of frustration after fans noticed that dozens of episodes were missing from his podcast catalog.

This was a bit confusing since Rogan had previously said his entire library of podcasts would be available starting September 1 before becoming fully exclusive to Spotify by the end of the year. 

Several news outlets and listeners claimed that the missing episodes seemed to be some of his most controversial interviews with far-right figures like Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, Gavin McInnes, and others. 

Other excluded episodes featured non-political figures like comedian Chris D’Elia, who was recently accused of sexual misconduct involving minors, as well as comedian and podcast regular Joey Diaz, who came under fire when comments from an old podcast surfaced about him coercing female comics into performing oral sex. 

After noticing who was missing, many began calling it censorship, wondering if it was Spotify’s choice or Rogan’s. For example, Mikhaila Peterson, daughter of controversial professor Jordan Peterson, tweeted about her episode’s exclusion, saying: “This is straight up censorship. This is absolutely ridiculous.”

She and several others began sharing lists of all the guests who were left out, which seemed to align with this theory about censoring controversial voices. However, she did note that it was the first day the podcasts were available, leaving some room for an explanation. 

The censorship claims are a huge point of frustration for people because Rogan is known for talking to people from across the political spectrum. When he first announced his deal, he even noted that his show wouldn’t change.

It’s just a licensing deal, so Spotify won’t have any creative control over the show. They want me to just continue doing it the way I’m doing it right now,” he said.  

We’re going to be working with the same crew doing the exact same show,” he continued in his announcement video.

These missing episodes had people worried about the show’s future, but others hesitated to call it censorship after finding a couple excluded guests confusing and not in line with the censorship narrative. For instance, missing episodes also included those of actor Tommy Chong, who is also a prominent cannabis rights activist, as well as comedian Nick Kroll.

Rogan Denies Claims 

Later in the day, Peterson updated her Twitter thread to say, “Alex Jones says these episodes will be uploaded at a later date and it is not censorship.”

Jones posted a video on his InfoWar’s site offering an explanation after speaking with Rogan. “They’ve got 1500+ files and then some migrating over, and they’ve had a few problems here and there with corrupted files, with the naming of them. And Spotify wants to have a first rollout and then a second rollout,” he said.

“Here’s the key. Joe Rogan’s favorite 100 episodes of the last 10 years or so will be left on YouTube starting December 31 when he goes exclusively to Spotify. For this couple months no man’s land the content will be on both platforms and will be migrating over.”

“And so that’s why the Alex Jones interview is not there. That’s why some of the other interviews aren’t there. Because those are going to be the exclusive interviews that are left on YouTube where, in Joe’s words, they’ll probably get more views than if they were on Spotify.”

Jones also added that he asked Rogan point-blank if Spotify was censoring him and he said, “Absolutely not.” He said Rogan explained that episodes were being organized and migrated over, but that Jones and other guests will on be on the podcast in the near future. 

Peterson also later noted that her episode now appears on Spotify. It seems like a few others are as well, including episodes with Joey Diaz and Tommy Chong.

See what others are saying: (Entertainment Weekly) (Mic) (Digg

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Amazon to Pay Over $30 Million for Alexa and Ring Privacy Violations

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Privacy violation charges stack up against the tech giant as the FTC partners up with the DOJ. 


Amazon Pays Up

Amazon agreed to a $30 million settlement for each of these complaints over complaints alleging that its Alexa and Ring products violated customer privacy.

The Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department accused Amazon of retaining children’s geolocation data as well as the recordings of their conversations with Alexa. Additionally, the FTC brought another complaint against Amazon’s Ring for violating their customers’ privacy and failing to complement basic security measures.

In addition to the accusations of retaining data, the FTC also charges Amazon with deceiving their customers, saying requests from parents to delete their children’s recordings and other data went ignored despite repeated assurances that parents can delete the data at any time. 

Amazon says this data was retained to train their Alexa algorithms to better understand children. But their reasoning does not change law. Their actions are still in violation of the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, known as COPPA. 

“Amazon’s history of misleading parents, keeping children’s recordings indefinitely, and flouting parents’ deletion requests violated COPPA and sacrificed privacy for profits,” said Samuel Levine, the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection in the press release regarding the complaint. “COPPA does not allow companies to keep children’s data forever for any reason, and certainly not to train their algorithms.”

The Settlement’s Details

The proposed settlement that Amazon agreed to on Wednesday includes a $25 million civil penalty as well as requirements to both delete the data in question and never use voice recordings of adults or children in the development or creation of a product again. 

However approval on this settlement is still needed from the federal courts. 

Despite agreeing to the settlement, Amazon denies violating COPPA, saying they designed Amazon Kids for parents to have full control and to comply with the law.

In their complaint against Ring, the FTC accused the company of violating their customers’ privacy by allowing countless employees and hundreds of contractors access to the videos from Ring cameras. 

Leading to situations like one in 2017, when a Ring employee watched thousands of videos belonging to dozens of female customers, including those in their bedrooms and bathrooms. 

Additionally, the FTC says that Ring did not implement basic security protections for years which allowed hackers to take control of their customers’ accounts, cameras, and videos  leading to 55,000 US Ring customers facing hacker attacks. In some cases, hackers could access Ring’s two-way functions to harass, insult, and threaten people – including children. The complaint alleges that Ring’s egregious privacy failings lasted for at least 4 years – between at least 2016 to 2020. 

Amazon responded to the complaint saying that RIng had addressed the concerns before the FTC even began their inquiry. 

The FTC proposed a settlement of $5.8 million in consumer refunds – as well as a demand for Ring to create a privacy and security program. The settlement also awaits federal court approval. 

See what others are saying: (New York Times) (Axios) (CNBC)

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Right-Wingers Are Turning Against Chick-fil-A

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Some have accused the company of joining a woke “cult” after learning of its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative.


Chick-fil-A Goes “Woke”

Conservatives are condemning Chick-fil-A after learning of the fast food chain’s commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Some have accused the brand of bowing “to the Woke mob.” Others have debated boycotting the chain.

It’s unclear when exactly Chick-fil-A began its DEI campaign, but according to LinkedIn, the current Vice President of DEI, Erick McReynolds, has been working in the department since 2020 before taking on his current role in 2021. It is also unclear why right-wingers on Twitter have just now discovered Chick-fil-A’s DEI website, but many spent a chunk of Tuesday morning lambasting the company for working to promote diversity. 

Chick-fil-A’s DEI page is titled “Committed to being Better at Together.” 

“Modeling care for others starts in the restaurant, and we are committed to ensuring mutual respect, understanding and dignity everywhere we do business,” McReynolds said in a statement on the website. 

Chick-fil-A is no stranger to boycott campaigns, though those efforts usually come from the opposite side of the political aisle. The company, known for its strong Christian ties, has been criticized for donating to groups with anti-LGBTQ missions. As a result, many on the left have refused to eat there, while it has been a haven for those on the right. 

Conservatives, however, have become increasingly outraged by DEI initiatives. Chick-fil-A’s website, which only vaguely outlines its DEI efforts, still seems to be enough for the right to change its tune about the brand. 

“Even our beloved Chick-Fil-A has fallen to the DEI cult,” one person tweeted. “the same agenda that is turning our beloved military woke.”

“It’s becoming an epidemic that even Christian companies are being strong-armed to participate in,” the tweet continued. 

Old Clip of Chairman Resurfaces 

Some have also started resurfacing an old clip of Chick-fil-A Chairman Dan Cathy speaking on a panel about racism during the summer of 2020. During the discussion, he talked about repentance and said that if you ever see someone who needs their shoes shined, you should do it. He then walked over to a Black person on the panel, got on his knees, and shined their shoes.

“There’s a time in which we need to have, you know, some personal action here, and maybe we need to give them a hug, too,” Cathy said while shining the shoes.

“I bought about 1,500 of these and I gave them to all our Chick-fil-A operators and staff a number of years ago,” Cathy continued, in reference to his shoe-shining brush. “So, any expressions of a contrite heart, of a sense of humility, a sense of shame, a sense of embarrassment begat with an apologetic heart — I think that’s what our world needs to hear today.”

The clip caused a stir when the events first unfolded, and has prompted a new wave of anger now. Some are accusing Cathy of being “a woke, anti-American, anti-white BLM boot licker” who thinks all white people need to shamefully shine the shoes of Black people to apologize for racism, though that is not what he said. 

These boycott calls are just the latest from conservatives who have been on a rampage against any company supporting any social cause they deem as “woke.” Earlier this year, the political right took a stand against Bud Light after it included a trans influencer in a sponsored Instagram post. Just last week, Target and Kohls faced boycotts over items in their Pride Month collections. 

See what others are saying: (The Hill) (Rolling Stone) (AL)

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Bioré Apologizes For Referencing School Shooting in Mental Health Ad Campaign 

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 “Our tonality was completely inappropriate. We are so sorry,” the skincare brand said.


Video Faces Backlash

The skincare brand Bioré apologized this week for partnering with a school shooting survivor as part of its Mental Health Awareness Month campaign. 

“We are committed to continuing our mental health mission, but we promise to do it in a better way,” the company said in an Instagram post on Sunday. 

Last week, influencer and recent Michigan State University graduate Cecilee Max-Brown posted a video to TikTok sponsored by Bioré where she discussed the numerous challenges she had faced throughout the year. Among them was a school shooting on her college’s campus, which killed three people in February. 

“Life has thrown countless obstacles at me this year, from the school shooting to having no idea what life is going to look like after college,” Max-Brown says in the video. “In honor of mental health awareness month, I’m partnering with Bioré skin care to strip away the stigma of anxiety. 

“We want you to get it all out, not only what’s in your pores, but most importantly, what’s on your mind, too,” she continued. 

In the 50-second video, Max-Brown went on to discuss more details about her mental health struggles, as well as how “seeing the effects of gun violence firsthand” has impacted her and led to “countless anxiety attacks.”

“I will never forget the feeling of terror that I had walking around campus for weeks in a place I considered home,” she said before closing the video by encouraging her followers to participate in Bioré’s mental health campaign.

Bioré Apologizes

The video ignited swift outrage from people who accused Bioré of using a school shooting to sell products. In its apology, the brand admitted the video was misguided. 

In the past, Bioré said it has worked with influencers to discuss and reduce mental health stigmas, as the subject is a top priority for its consumers. 

“This time, however, we did it the wrong way,” the company said. “We lacked sensitivity around an incredibly serious tragedy, and our tonality was completely inappropriate. We are so sorry.”

Max-Brown also apologized on TikTok, writing that the video was intended to spread awareness, not suggest a product fixed the struggles she has experienced as a result of the shooting.

“I did not mean to desensitize the traumatic event that took place as I know the effects that it has had on me and the Spartan community,” she wrote. 

Max-Brown has since removed the initial sponsored video from her account.

See what others are saying: (The New York Times) (NBC News) (The Independent)

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