Spotify has removed tens of thousands of podcast episodes and accounts involved in promoting illegal drugs, including opioids, following pressure from a U.S. congressional investigation.
According to details shared with Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH), the platform took down more than 57,000 episodes, along with over 3,000 shows and 3,500 accounts through November 2025. The content was part of a spam operation designed to drive traffic to external drug-selling websites rather than direct sales on Spotify itself.
Hassan’s office raised the issue last year after identifying podcasts linking to sites later targeted by law…
