Spotify Removed 3,500 Podcast Accounts and 57,000 Episodes Promoting Illegal Pharmacies

Spotify removed 3,500 podcast accounts and 57,000 individual episodes between May and November of last year after a CNN investigation identified shows promoting illegal online pharmacies. The investigation, led by Senator Maggie Hassan and published Thursday, found that 94 percent of the removed podcasts had never been streamed and 99 percent had fewer than 10 streams, defined as listening sessions longer than 30 seconds.

Two podcasts that directed users to buy modafinil online, including with bitcoin, together received almost 13,000 streams.

Spotify told investigators it does not track interaction with hyperlinks embedded in podcast content and has a process to refer content to law enforcement but did not refer any of the drug-related podcasts removed last year. com,” which the Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal agencies later seized. Spotify believes the podcast was spam.

Investigators also found a public playlist on Spotify advertising “oxycodone online” in December 2025. ” None of the drug-sales podcasts were monetized on Spotify, and the company earned no revenue from them. Spotify’s rules prohibit content that illicitly promotes the sale of regulated or illegal goods, including illegal drugs.

The company uses automated technology and human reviewers to enforce its rules. Spotify spokesperson Laura Batey stated: “Bad actors attempting to abuse our platform will always try to circumvent or evade our detection. ” Investigators found a small number of similar phony podcasts on iHeart, Amazon Music, and Podchaser, including an episode advertising “Xanax Pills Online” on iHeart and a series promoting other drugs on Amazon Music and Podchaser.

Spotify had already removed some drug-sales podcasts prior to the May CNN report.