Drake Caught in Spotify Fraud Scandal - Lawsuit Claims Billions of Fake Streams

According to court documents obtained by Rolling Stone, the Toronto rapper allegedly benefited from «billions of fraudulent streams» between January 2022 and September 2025.

The complaint, however, does not accuse Drake personally; instead, it targets Spotify, claiming the platform «turned a blind eye» to massive streaming manipulation that unfairly boosted the artist's numbers.

The suit alleges that a «substantial and non-trivial percentage» of Drake's estimated 37 billion streams were generated by a network of fake accounts.

These so-called «streaming farms» are believed to have used automated bots and VPNs to simulate listener activity - including 250,000 plays of No Face traced to Turkey but disguised as U.K. streams. In some cases, individual accounts reportedly streamed Drake's music up to 23 hours a day.

If proven true, this large-scale manipulation could have major financial implications for other artists.

Spotify's royalty system pools subscription and ad revenue, distributing it based on an artist's share of total streams. Artificial inflation, therefore, reduces the income of other songwriters, producers, and performers.

Attorney Mark Pifko, representing rapper RBX - a cousin of Snoop Dogg - says this case highlights the urgent need for accurate stream reporting and stronger fraud detection.

«When one artist's streams are artificially inflated, it affects everyone else on the platform,» Pifko told Rolling Stone.

The lawsuit also carries an ironic twist: just last year, Drake accused Kendrick Lamar of using similar tactics to boost streams for his hit Not Like Us during their highly publicized feud.

Now, the tables have turned, with the world's most-streamed artist facing allegations of benefiting from the same kind of digital inflation.

Spotify has not yet commented publicly on the case.

However, the company has faced increasing criticism over the years for its struggle to combat fake streams - a problem that continues to distort industry metrics and payouts.

Whether Drake's name will ultimately be cleared or further implicated, one thing is clear: this lawsuit shines a light on an uncomfortable truth about the modern music business - in the age of algorithms, not every play counts the same.