When Steven Bartlett launched his podcast, The Diary of a CEO, in 2017, the aim was to provide insight and tips for people in business. As a successful entrepreneur who would later be featured on the Forbes “30 Under 30” list, Bartlett came from a place of knowledge and expertise. But then the podcast branched out into health and wellness, and Bartlett began platforming guests whose opinions veered between the unorthodox and the downright dangerous. 

To look at The Diary of a CEO’s YouTube page today is to be assailed by alarmist, clickbait headlines, including “In three months, we’ll enter a famine,” and “95% of your mind is controlled!” When the BBC World Service investigated the podcast 18 months ago, it found 15 health-related episodes in which guests shared misinformation, including discredited anti-vaccine theories and a claim that cancer can be treated by following a keto diet. 

Bartlett’s defense has long been that he is open to hearing all viewpoints on his show and that he doesn’t believe in censorship. It’s an approach that certainly hasn’t dented the popularity of his podcast—last year it reported 50 million monthly downloads and views. That’s a lot of people being exposed to inaccurate and potentially dangerous ideas. 

Unfortunately, The Diary of a CEO is simply one example of how little production companies and platforms seem to care about accusations of misinformation. Spotify was more than happy to go into business with Joe Rogan, who has given airtime to climate change deniers and anti-vaxxers via his chart-busting podcast The Joe Rogan Experience (the latest Spotify–Rogan deal is alleged to be worth $250 million). In 2022, medical and science experts wrote an open letter to Spotify asking the company to crack down on COVID misinformation, specifically referencing Rogan’s podcast. Two years later, CNN reported that Donald Trump made 32 false claims during his appearance on the same show.