Overview
- The report from Sen. Maggie Hassan published Thursday, June 11, 2026, says Spotify removed more than 57,000 podcast episodes and roughly 3,500 accounts that promoted online pharmacies between May and November 2025.
- Investigators found the shows were largely phony and designed to boost external sites in search results by embedding links in episode descriptions and cover art rather than to sell directly on Spotify.
- Spotify told investigators most of the flagged episodes had almost no listens but called the activity a 'spam attack' and said it removed content once alerted and improved its removal tracking last year.
- Hassan’s office criticizes the company for slow enforcement and says Spotify did not notify law enforcement about the removals, a point Spotify disputes while saying it works with authorities when content violates the law.
- Investigators found similar small-scale fake drug podcasts on other platforms and warn that the case raises wider public-safety questions about how streaming services spot spam, track link clicks, and prevent access to illicit pill sellers.