Spotify is in turmoil again. A class complaint, filed last week in California federal court, accuses the streaming platform of having “ looked away » in the face of “ large-scale fraudulent wiretapping “. The rapper RBX, cousin of Snoop Dogg, is at the origin of this legal action which calls into question not an artist, but the very functioning of the service.
Fake streams, real millions
According to the complaint, “ billions of streams » would have been generated by bots, for the benefit of certain major artists, including Drake. The document claims that Spotify “ knows or should know » that part « not negligible » of the Canadian artist’s 37 billion streams are not authentic. These suspicious wiretappings would have occurred between January 2022 and September 2025. The complainants mention in particular “ abnormal VPN uses » to conceal the origin of these bots, citing for example 250,000 listenings of the song “No Face” located in Türkiye but “ falsely geolocated » in the United Kingdom. Some areas of alleged activity would not even have “ no residential address ”, according to the complaint.
The heart of the problem lies in the artist remuneration model, based on streamshare. Subscription and advertising revenues are pooled, then redistributed according to each artist’s share of listening. By artificially inflating the figures of the biggest names, fake streams mechanically reduce the remuneration of other musicians, authors and producers.
« Every month, under the watchful eye of Spotify, billions of illegitimate streams are generated “, denounces the complaint, evoking a “ massive financial damage » for legitimate artists. Spotify, for its part, defends itself: “ We invest heavily in industry-leading fraud detection systems », Says a spokesperson. The company says it removes suspicious wiretapping, withholds payments and imposes penalties. She cites a case in 2024 where an alleged fraudster embezzled $10 million from various services, only $60,000 of which was via Spotify.
But the complainants doubt the good faith of the platform. According to them, bots are particularly active on the free, ad-supported tier, where it is easy to create fake accounts. By tolerating this activity, Spotify would artificially inflate its audience figures and attract more advertisers. “ For Spotify, more users and streams mean more ad revenue “, advances the complaint. RBX and its lawyers are seeking more than $5 million in damages, as well as class action certification to identify the victims and put Spotify on trial. Their goal is to make the streaming system “ more equitable and transparent ».
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