Spotify has removed tens of thousands of phony podcasts promoting illegal online pharmacies, a new investigation has found. The investigation, led by Senator Maggie Hassan, discovered that Spotify had removed 3,500 podcast accounts and 57,000 individual episodes between May and November of last year.

Investigation Findings

The investigation’s findings raise questions about Spotify’s ability to proactively detect and remove potentially harmful content. Senator Hassan said that Spotify should have acted faster and alerted law enforcement to the content.

According to Spotify, the phony podcasts were a “spam attack” designed to boost the purported online pharmacies’ visibility in search engines. The company stated that it had earned no revenue from the content and that none of the drug sales podcasts were monetized on its platform.

Response to Investigation

Spotify told investigators that 94% of the phony podcasts had never been streamed and 99% had fewer than 10 streams. However, a handful had been listened to more widely, including two totaling almost 13,000 streams that directed users to buy the prescription stimulant modafinil online.

Senator Hassan’s report suggests that the issue is not limited to Spotify, as investigators found a small number of similar phony podcasts on other streaming platforms, including iHeart and Amazon Music.

Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.