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| Canadian singer and songwriter Joni Mitchell strums her guitar outside The Revolution club in London in 1968 |
(CNN) __ Following a backlash over-vaccination misinformation on Spotify, singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell has said that she will withdraw her songs from the platform.
"Irresponsible individuals are spreading misinformation that are costing people their lives," the Canadian performer said on her website on Friday. "On this matter, I stand in solidarity with Neil Young and the international scientific and medical community."
Mitchell's move comes after Young demanded that all of his tracks be removed from Spotify immediately, citing disinformation about vaccines spread by comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan.
Young, 76, warned the repercussions were "disastrous" in a now-deleted message on his website, according to Rolling Stone ""They can have Rogan or Young," he said, "possibly bringing death to people who believe this falsehood peddled." Not both at the same time."
Mitchell highlighted an open letter to Spotify released earlier this month by a consortium of scientists and medical experts urging the creation of an anti-misinformation policy. Mitchell is well known for her songs "Big Yellow Taxi" and "A Case of You."
The letter, which was posted in its entirety on the 78-year-old singer's website, raised a number of issues about Rogan's podcast "The Joe Rogan Experience," which is presently the most popular podcast on Spotify in the United States United Kingdom.
CNN has reached out to Spotify and Mitchell's record label, Rhino, for comment, but has yet to hear back.
The writers of the open letter argue that Rogan has "discouraged immunization in children and young people, wrongly stated that mRNA vaccines are "gene therapy," pushed off-label use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19... and circulated a variety of baseless conspiracy theories."
They also claimed that at least two recent speakers "compared the pandemic policy to the Holocaust" and that disinformation was "a societal issue of deadly proportions, and Spotify is to blame for letting this behavior grow on its platform."
After Rogan's show was criticized, Spotify agreed to remove Young's songs from their platform, and the hashtag #DeleteSpotify became popular. On Thursday, Apple Music tweeted that it has become "the home of Neil Young."
Young and Mitchell have around 10 million monthly Spotify listeners combined, with Young having over 6 million and Mitchell having 3.7 million.
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