The CNN investigation revealed a disturbing gap on Spotify, revealing that dozens of podcasts mask themselves because legitimate programs actually supported illegal online pharmacies. These fake podcasts, which are found by searching like “Aderall” and “Xanax”, often represented general or generic voices that push prescription drugs such as oxycodone, vicodin, methadone, and ambien-timely advertising “Delivery of FDA without prescription” under US law.
Some podcast titles have left little imagination – “My Aderall Store”, “Order Xanax 2 Mg Online Big Deal for the Christmas Season” and “XtraPharma.com” – with links in episodes that point to the dubious pharmacy website.
Detecting a problem
The CNN review found at least seven podcasts pushing drugs in the first 100 results in searching for “Adderall” and up to 20 in the first 60 in search of “Xanax”. In some cases, these sites existed for months and were easily discovered on the Spotify platform.
Even after the problem was marked, CNN was able to find new fake podcasts. In some cases, programs such as “Aderall 10 Mg Blue Pills” disappeared only after CNN has been dealing with them, suggesting more reactive than proactive recovery.
Spotify’s Swift but a partial reaction
After CNN said it provided Spotify List of 26 offensive podcasts who were feeding on Thursday afternoon, the company acted within a few hours to remove them. New, however, were seen on the platform next morning.
“We are constantly working to detect and eliminate the violation of content across our services,” said Spotify spokesman CNN, acknowledging that the removed podcasts violated their rules that prohibit illegal and spam content.
What Spotify says – and what are its rules
Spotify allows open publishing podcasts, but enforces the rules that prohibit hate speeches, sexually explicit content, illegal material and spam. Its instructions for creators also prohibit content only for promoting a product or service – especially if such content leads users to harmful or illegal services.
The company claims to use automated tools and human moderators to identify rules. Despite these efforts, online security experts claim that current Spotify systems are insufficient.
Greater questions
The situation caused new concerns about the task of technological platforms to prevent unlawful drug sales, especially because AI instruments make it easier to produce spam or hazardous content. The advocates and parents demanded stricter warranties and quoted recent deaths on adolescents on pills purchased online.
(tagstotranslate) Spotify
