Spotify Caught Hosting Fake Podcasts Peddling Xanax, Oxycodone and Tramadol

Music streaming platform Spotify has been caught hosting numerous fake podcasts promoting the sale of addictive prescription drugs like Xanax, Oxycodone, and Tramadol.

Separate investigations by CNN and Business Insider uncovered over 200 of these fake podcasts with titles like “My Adderall Store,” many of which redirected users to websites where they could buy the drugs without a prescription, in violation of federal law.

Over 25 different drugs were found being advertised, including some such as the opioid Opana, which is no longer for sale on the US market due to its addictive potential.

Many of the fake podcasts included no audio at all or contained just under a minute of what appeared to be AI-generated voiceovers, with the information and links being contained in the podcasts’ bios. These fake podcasts weren’t exactly hard to find either, Insider noted that some appear in the Top 50 when searching for the drug of choice, sitting alongside legitimate podcasts centered around addiction and recovery.

Fake prescription drugs bought online or on social media have emerged as a serious public health issue in recent years. According to a 2023 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the percentage of overdose deaths involving counterfeit pills more than doubled between mid-2019 and late 2021, with states in the Western US being even more acutely impacted.

“We are constantly working to detect and remove violating content across our service,” a Spotify spokesperson told Insider in response to the reports.

Spotify has also been contending with the issue of money-motivated fake content, often generated with AI, for quite some time. In September 2024, a North Carolina man was arrested for creating hundreds of thousands of AI-generated songs to swindle royalties from music-streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music, bagging himself over $10 million in royalties in the process.

Spotify has been making some pretty significant tweaks to how it presents its podcasts in recent weeks, however, even if these are unlikely to stop this type of illegal content. The ever-popular streaming service recently rolled out a new feature that enables users to view how many times a podcast has been actively listened to or watched for the first time.

About Will McCurdy

Contributor

I’m a reporter covering weekend news. Before joining PCMag in 2024, I picked up bylines in BBC News, The Guardian, The Times of London, The Daily Beast, Vice, Slate, Fast Company, The Evening Standard, The i, TechRadar, and Decrypt Media.

I’ve been a PC gamer since you had to install games from multiple CD-ROMs by hand. As a reporter, I’m passionate about the intersection of tech and human lives. I’ve covered everything from crypto scandals to the art world, as well as conspiracy theories, UK politics, and Russia and foreign affairs.

Read Will’s full bio

Read the latest from Will McCurdy