Spotify is cracking down on fake podcasts that were promoting the sale of opioids and other drugs without prescriptions, violating both federal law and the platform's own rules. A recent Business Insider investigation uncovered 200 podcasts advertising these illegal medications, often leading listeners to fraudulent online pharmacies. Many of these episodes were short advertisements aimed at selling products rather than providing actual content. Spotify has started to remove these violating podcasts and claims to be actively working to detect and eliminate such content from its platform.
Many of the episodes BI reviewed were under a minute long and are less about content and more about pushing product, providing links to websites claiming to sell opioids like Tramadol and Oxycodone.
Some podcasts advertised opioids without prescriptions, violating federal law and Spotify rules, such as one that urged users to buy tramadol online with no prescription.
Spotify's platform rules prohibit content that promotes the sale of regulated or illegal drugs, yet many fake podcasts openly offered highly addictive drugs.
We are constantly working to detect and remove violating content across our service,â the Spotify spokesperson said.
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