Spotify has removed tens of thousands of fake podcasts linked to online drug sales
Spotify has spent the past year quietly removing tens of thousands of podcasts allegedly being used to promote illegal online pharmacies and scam websites. Now, a new congressional report is raising questions about how the program was able to thrive on one of the world’s largest audio platforms in the first place.
According to a Wired report, bad actors created thousands of fake podcasts that weren’t meant to attract real listeners. Instead, they were designed to manipulate Spotify’s search rankings and increase the visibility of websites that sell prescription drugs without a prescription, including opioids, stimulants, and benzodiazepines.
Spotify reportedly removed more than 57,000 podcast episodes, more than 3,000 podcast shows, and took action against nearly 3,500 accounts linked to the project. The downgrade came after ongoing scrutiny by lawmakers and a media investigation that highlighted the scale of the problem.
The report was led by Senator Maggie Hassan, who criticized Spotify for not being quick enough and failing to report the activity to law enforcement despite links to websites involved in the sale of illegal drugs.
Podcasts never really became podcasts
One of the most surprising details is that most of the content was not created for use.
Spotify told investigators that many fake podcasts function primarily as search engine spam. Operators have reportedly stuffed podcast titles, descriptions, and cover art with links that direct users to online pharmacy websites and scam activities. The aim was to exploit Spotify’s authority in search engines and improve the ranking of those external sites.
In fact, Spotify said that 94% of deleted episodes received zero plays, while 99% attracted less than 10 streams. However, some episodes have found listeners. A few have reportedly made thousands of listens and placed orders to buy drugs like modafinil using crypto currency.
The report also found similar content from all other podcast platforms, highlighting how easy it has become to distribute large amounts of low-quality content to multiple services at once.
AI makes the spam problem even bigger
Researchers and lawmakers believe that artificial intelligence makes these tasks easier.
The report points to AI-generated podcasts with artificial voices and automatically generated content designed to mimic official shows. Spotify told investigators that it currently has AI rating systems in place for music spam but does not specifically block AI-generated podcasts. The company also admitted that it is not well-positioned to target AI-generated podcast content.
Spotify says it uses automated detection tools, human reviewers, and third-party screening services to identify infringing content. However, the congressional report says the level of fake podcast activity shows significant gaps in those protections.
The incident highlights a growing challenge facing online platforms. As AI makes it cheaper and faster to create content at scale, spam campaigns no longer require websites alone. They can use trusted platforms, search algorithms, and recommendation systems to reach users in ways that are hard to see.
For Spotify, the controversy is a reminder that content moderation challenges are no longer limited to social media. Even podcast platforms are becoming targets of sophisticated spam operations designed to game search rankings and funnel users to illegal or potentially dangerous services.
