A new lawsuit claims Spotify let Drake rack up billions of fake streams, allegedly turning a blind eye while bots inflated the rapper’s numbers and boosted his payout.
The complaint, first reported by Rolling Stone, argues that Spotify pays artists based on their share of total streams. If streams are artificially pumped, that artist takes a bigger cut of the royalty pool, leaving less for everyone else.
The suit alleges botting on Spotify is widespread but singles out Drake as the sole named example. It claims there is “voluminous information” the company “knows or should know” showing a “substantial, non-trivial percentage” of his roughly 37 billion streams were “inauthentic” and linked to a sprawling bot operation.
“Every month, under Spotify’s watchful eye, billions of fraudulent streams are generated,” the filing states, arguing the “mass scale” issue harms legitimate artists, writers, and producers. It further claims the allegedly fake activity created significant revenue for Drake and his company, Frozen Moments, while Spotify ignored the behavior for its own financial gain.
Spotify refuted that idea in a statement.
“We cannot comment on pending litigation,” a spokesperson said. “However, Spotify in no way benefits from the industry-wide challenge of artificial streaming. We heavily invest in best-in-class systems to combat it… like removing fake streams, withholding royalties, and charging penalties.”
VPNs, odd streaming patterns, and round-the-clock listening
According to the complaint, the suspected botting took place between January 2022 and September 2025. It cites “abnormal VPN usage” masking location data and points to one four-day period in 2024 where at least 250,000 streams of Drake’s track “No Face” allegedly came from Turkey but were routed to appear as if from the UK.
The suit also claims that there were large clusters of streams in areas with little to no residential population and some accounts streamed Drake’s music “23 hours a day,” where less than 2% of users allegedly made up around 15% of his streams.
The complaint argues the Degrassi: The Next Generation star’s totals outpaced other top artists despite having fewer unique listeners, suggesting disproportionate activity.
The accusations land as other platforms battle similar issues. Twitch has faced escalating viewbotting claims, with inflated viewer counts reportedly boosting botted channels in rankings and hurting real creators.
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