Rapper RBX accuses Spotify of ignoring bot-driven fake streams that allegedly inflated Drake’s numbers and robbed other artists of royalties.
Spotify is in hot water after being accused of allowing “billions of fraudulent streams” of Drake’s music, potentially cheating other artists out of their fair share of royalties.
The federal class action lawsuit was filed Sunday in California by Long Beach rapper RBX, a cousin of Snoop Dogg who famously appeared on Dr. Dre’s The Chronic and Snoop’s Doggystyle.
According to the lawsuit, RBX claims that Spotify knowingly turned a blind eye to bot activity that artificially inflated Drake’s streaming numbers.
The complaint states that between January 2022 and September 2025, billions of fake plays were generated using “illegitimate and illegal” methods such as bot networks and VPN manipulation.
The filing alleges that a “substantial, non-trivial percentage” of Drake’s 37 billion Spotify streams were inauthentic.
One example cited in the lawsuit involves over 250,000 streams of Drake’s song “No Face” that reportedly originated from Turkey but were disguised as U.K. plays using VPNs to hide their true location.
Other suspicious signs included huge spikes in Drake’s streaming activity long after his releases, concentrated in areas with no residential population, and countless accounts playing his songs 23 hours a day.
“Less than 2% of users account for roughly 15% of his total streams,” the lawsuit claims, adding that Drake’s numbers were “staggering and irregular” compared to other top artists.
Because Spotify pays royalties based on an artist’s percentage of total platform streams, inflated numbers for one artist would mean smaller payouts for others. RBX and other plaintiffs argue that Spotify’s negligence caused “massive financial harm” to legitimate musicians, producers, and songwriters.
This case lands just weeks after Drake’s own lawsuit against Universal Music Group was dismissed. In that case, he accused his label of artificially boosting Kendrick Lamar’s hit diss track “Not Like Us.”
Spotify has recently tightened its policies against stream manipulation, banning the use of paid services that guarantee plays. However, the lawsuit argues that these actions came too late to address years of fraud that cost artists “hundreds of millions of dollars.”
RBX’s legal team is seeking over $5 million in damages, a jury trial, and a full investigation into Spotify’s handling of fraudulent activity on its platform.
