The Joe Rogan debate poses an existential question for Spotify.

Spotify has faced increasing pressure as prominent artists have pulled their songs from the streaming platform to protest its hosting of Joe Rogan’s popular podcast, which has been criticized for spreading misinformation about the coronavirus.

Over the weekend, Spotify’s chief executive, Daniel Ek, said that the service would add a “content advisory” to some podcasts and Mr. Rogan pledged to “balance things out.”

At root for Spotify, the DealBook newsletter notes, is a question that confronts many tech giants in the streaming and social media age: Is it a platform or a media company?

The streaming service says it isn’t responsible for moderating content posted on its platform, much as social networks like Facebook have argued for years. But commentators like Peter Kafka of Recode note a key difference between Spotify and those companies: Spotify directly paid a reported $100 million for the exclusive rights to Mr. Rogan’s podcast, and the company has noted that his show has increased its ad revenue. To some, that puts an extra onus on Spotify to act like a media company and take responsibility for content.

How artists reacted:

• Last week, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pulled their music from the platform.

• This weekend, the star podcaster Brené Brown, who signed an exclusive deal with Spotify in 2020, said that she would not release any more episodes “until further notice.”

• Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who also have an exclusive deal with Spotify, said that they expressed concerns about coronavirus misinformation on Spotify’s platform to the company last April.

“I am going to do my best in the future to balance things out,” Mr. Rogan said in a video statement posted late Sunday. He agreed on the merits of putting a disclaimer on episodes that discuss the coronavirus. He also thanked Spotify for its support: “I’m very sorry that this is happening to them.”

Beyond adding the content advisory notice, Spotify is also directing listeners to a page with information about Covid and has published its content policy rules. But Mr. Ek wrote in a public letter that the company must balance “creator expression” with “the safety of our users.”

“It is important to me that we don’t take on the position of being content censor,” he said in the letter.

Other tech companies have said similar things when faced with their own platform dilemmas. It hasn’t necessarily settled their critics’ concerns.