Taking a stand against internet media platforms

A number of brave artists have taken a valiant stand against the lies and misinformation being promoted on Spotify.

In particular, Neil Young pulled his music from the Spotify platform to protest against popular podcast host Joe Rogan, who has hosted several outspoken skeptics of vaccines for COVID-19.

Initially it appeared Young would lose the David and Goliath struggle with Spotify. Star columnist Vinay Menon wrote a great article on the battle and we agreed with his humorous, biting wit. “Joe Rogan doesn’t need Spotify. Spotify needs Joe Rogan,” wrote Menon. “Spotify doesn’t need Neil Young.”

So it looked like Young’s gambit was doomed to failure. And sure enough, Spotify decided to stick with Rogan and his podcasts containing misinformation and promptly dropped the music of the courageous Neil Young. An initial win for Spotify.

Since then, however, other artists, including Joni Mitchell, have joined the cause.

Spotify may have miscalculated. The controversy is continuing to gain momentum and the company has lost more than $2 billion in market value over the past week.

Spotify has now begun outlining steps it will take to combat COVID misinformation, making public its rules governing what content is and isn’t allowed on its platform.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said the company will add an advisory to any podcast episode that discusses COVID. Joe Rogan himself apologized, and promised to find a better balance when he invites guests to discuss COVID and vaccines.

This attempt by Spotify to quell the growing controversy is too little, too late.

Like other media outlets, Spotify should be required to publicly acknowledge and correct misinformation on their platform or face costly litigation brought by all those who suffer harm from it.

In the case of misinformation about the COVID pandemic, the damages related to wrongful death would be massive and would certainly ensure that Spotify gets serious about being better.

Internet media platforms like Spotify have made untold billions of dollars in profits while promoting lies and misinformation. These platforms would do more than just initiate internal rules if they were made to be financially accountable for the damage from which they are profiting.

— Toronto Star

Solar trade war with China

President Biden wants the United States to cut its greenhouse gas emissions in half by the end of this decade, an ambitious target that reflects the diminishing amount of time the world has to change its climate course. Meeting this goal will require massive deployment of green energy. That, in turn, will require Mr. Biden to do everything he can to restrain the costs of wind, solar and other clean energy sources.

He can start by finally ending a long-running, ruinous trade war with China over the price of solar power equipment, which has made these products more expensive than they need to be. His first step should be rejecting calls to extend tariffs on solar products such as the cells that make up solar panels, the fate of which Mr. Biden must decide by Monday.

The U.S.-China solar trade fight dates back to President Barack Obama’s administration, when U.S. solar equipment manufacturers complained about competition with cut-rate Chinese products. The Commerce Department agreed, slapping huge tariffs on Chinese-made solar panels, then expanding them in 2014. President Donald Trump in 2018 raised even more tariffs on solar modules and cells coming from any country. Mr. Biden must now decide whether to extend Mr. Trump’s tariffs.

Deploying renewables as quickly as possible would have not just climate benefits but national security ones, too. Running more of the economy on clean electric power is an essential step toward freeing the nation from dependence on foreign oil.

This is among the reasons that rapidly transitioning the nation’s energy sector must be Mr. Biden’s overriding priority. That does not mean the president should allow solar panels manufactured with slave labor to be sold in the United States. But across-the-board tariffs, which raise prices for U.S. solar consumers, are far too costly a response. The administration should seek to crack down on Chinese human rights abuses — not to prop up a small, coddled industry pleading for special help.