Drug sites hijacked Spotify’s search ranking with fake podcasts

For the past year, Spotify Tens of thousands have been quietly purged Podcast Which advertises illegal online pharmacies. A a report On Thursday, Sen. Maggie Hassan, the ranking member of the Joint Economic Committee, criticized the company for acting only after the media exposed the content and her office spent nearly a year pressing for answers.

None of what was removed was sent to law enforcement, the report says.

Spotify reportedly removed more than 57,000 podcast episodes and 3,000 shows, and took enforcement action against 3,500 accounts, all of which posted links to illegal online pharmacies advertising opioids, benzodiazepines, and stimulants for sale without a prescription. However, the report views the cleanup as a failure in moderation.

The report relies on one comparison in particular: Spotify acted against more than 3,500 accounts for drug content in 2025 but fewer than 100 accounts the year before. The committee presents this jump as evidence that the company did not act until it was subject to scrutiny. Spotify offered a different explanation: that its old statistics were incomplete because, the report said, it changed the way it tracked removals last year.

A handful of transgression podcasts have found an audience. Of the five plays that attracted more than 100 plays, two together collected about 13,000 streams and guided listeners through purchasing Modafinil, a wakefulness drug, by sending Bitcoin. Another play, with 125 plays, is linked to locations representing pharmacy markets for cancer and HIV drugs. These were exceptions, but they indicated the workings of the payment and system.

Hassan says the numbers are alarming, and the risks are real: Counterfeit pills purchased online are often laced with fentanyl, and teens are among the most at risk.

“In the age of artificial intelligence, all online platforms need to make sophisticated efforts to continuously identify and remove illegal content,” Hassan tells WIRED. “Failing to quickly detect, remove, and report dangerous content to law enforcement can lead to horrific consequences — whether it’s a teenager purchasing drugs online that could be tainted with deadly fentanyl or a senior falling for a scam that wipes out their retirement savings.”

When asked about its approach to AI-driven podcasts, Spotify spokeswoman Laura Paty said the company “has a long history of working with law enforcement when content violates the law.” It did not say whether Spotify makes proactive referrals to the DEA, or how often. Spotify is still looking into WIRED’s question about whether it tracks clicks on those links, Batey said.

Spotify told the committee that its practice is to only alert authorities when it identifies a credible threat of serious harm: an imminent risk to someone’s life or safety. The company said the podcast, which it classified as a scheme to improve research and not evidence of actual drug sales, never met that standard.

While Spotify didn’t say whether it reports illegal drug activity to the DEA, the report says the company’s competitors are answering that question directly: pop Regularly makes proactive referrals to the agency, and dead It says it cooperates with law enforcement to combat drug sales. Spotify’s position, according to the report, is that its obligations, as a licensed content streaming service, are different from those of the social network.

At least one of the removed podcasts suggests where law enforcement was actually looking. A listing identified by the commission in July 2025 — listed in a string of nonsense letters and bearing the subject line Advertisement for “Licensed Online Seller” — linked to a site called Opioidstores.com. That domain was later seized by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, working with the Drug Enforcement Administration, Food and Drug Administration, and other agencies. Spotify removed the podcast, but did not report anything through its own account.