Apple and Spotify allow Daily Wire call to end transgenderism

Spotify and Apple Podcasts are allowed Daily Wire Host Michael Knowles to remain on their platforms despite his calls for an eradication of “transgenderism.”

Knowles has been accused of inciting trans genocide after he said in one of his Feb. 27 episodes that society should “totally ban transgenderism.” The Michael Knowles Show on The Daily Wire.

The episode is available to stream on Spotify and Apple Podcasts at the time of writing, although both claim to ban anti-LGBTQ+ hatred on their platforms.

Spotify and Apple were repeatedly given opportunities by PinkNews to confirm whether calls to eradicate “transgenderism” were permissible under their policies and whether they would remove the episode in question. Spotify declined to comment; Apple didn’t answer.

US regulator Media Matters for America called out Spotify, Apple and other platforms, including YouTube and Google Podcasts, for spreading hate speech.

“Spotify, Apple, YouTube and other platforms that distribute Daily Wire‘s shows have a unique opportunity to stop the spread of anti-trans hate as they have all policies that appear to prohibit hate speech related to gender and sexual orientation,” Kayla Gogarty, deputy director of research at Media Matters, told PinkNews .

“Instead of protecting the safety of their users, these platforms do not enforce these policies and spread harmful rhetoric from the Daily Wire and other right-wing media.”

Gogarty noted that the LGBTQ+ community, particularly trans people, “have fallen victim to a spate of real-world attacks and harmful legislation,” due in part to “months of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric from the right-wing media.”

Apple and Google allow Daily Wire to spread hate against LGBTQ+

Media Matters produced a scathing report highlighting how The Daily Wire routinely expresses “bigotry against LGBTQ people,” both in podcasts and articles on its DailyWire+ app, available on both Apple and Google app stores is.

The watchdog said these include Ben Shapiro, who continues to attack same-sex marriage, Matt Walsh, who said he “rather be dead” than have a trans child, Candace Owens, who claims the “trans agenda is demonic.” ‘, and various podcast episodes with anti-LGBTQ slurs in their titles.

It noted how Apple removed conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in 2018 Infowars from its platform for violating its terms of service, and other tech companies soon did the same.

Media Matters said this “severely limited the reach of Jones’ damaging rhetoric.”

“Despite this precedent and repeated violations of Apple’s and Google’s Terms of Service, Daily Wire Podcasts remain accessible through the Apple App Store, Apple TV, Google Play and through Google TV via Chromecast,” it added.

Spotify’s Platform Rules specifically prohibit content that “incites violence or hatred against any group of people” because of gender identity or gender expression, gender, sexual orientation or other “traits associated with systemic discrimination or exclusion.”

Apple Podcasts states that its content guidelines do not allow “harmful or objectionable content,” including “defamatory, discriminatory, or mean content” about sexual orientation, gender, or “other audiences, particularly when the content is likely to be humiliating, intimidating, or intimidating to individuals or groups.” to harass or harm”.

Likewise, the Google Play Terms of Service prohibit “apps that promote violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, age, national origin, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, caste, immigration status, or any other characteristic.” associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization”.

Despite this, Daily Wire content is still available across all three platforms.

Knowles repeated his anti-trans rhetoric in a bigoted tirade at one of the most prominent right-wing conferences, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in the US.

Knowles illogically claimed in subsequent tweets and replies to headlines that his speech was not a call for liquidation of trans people. Instead, he split his hair by saying he wanted to eliminate the “ideology” of being trans, while conveniently refusing to say what would happen to trans people if that happened.

After his CPAC speech, Knowles clarified on his podcast that “eliminating transgenderism from public life” before 2015 would mean “behaving as American society has done.”

Why 2015? Well, Knowles claimed the mass acceptance of “transgenderism” only began when President Barack Obama instituted open trans military service and people berated the North Carolina governor for enforcing an anti-trans bathroom ban.

Knowles’ logic contradicts the fact that trans people have existed for millennia and trans people from cultures around the world found ways to thrive and be accepted prior to 2015.

Knowles said there could be “no genocide” against trans people because “transgender people are not really an ontological category” and asserted that it is “not a legitimate category of being”.

Knowles previously attacked non-binary artist Sam Smith’s Grammy performance, claiming depictions of “demonic figures” are “always trans” because the “devil hates humanity.”

He likened same-sex couples trying to expand their families by using egg donors and surrogates to “going into a slave market.” Knowles also said parents should have their children taken away if they are taking them to drag events, which he says is “sexually abusing” their children.

It’s far from the first time Spotify has been criticized for failing to eradicate hatred of the LGBTQ+ community.

Media Matters highlighted how Spotify has repeatedly refused to take action The Joe Rogan Experiencewhich is “crammed with COVID-19 misinformation, hateful anti-trans slurs and dangerous conspiracy theories” and racism.

PinkNews reached out to Google for comment.