A federal judge has dismissed a class-action lawsuit accusing Spotify of ignoring bot-farming on its platform. The suit was led by rapper RBX and focused heavily on streams for Drake.
California federal judge Josephine Stanton dismissed the case in a June 22 ruling. She found that RBX failed to show the harm outweighed Spotify's reasons for its streaming policies.
The complaint claimed Spotify was negligent and violated California's Unfair Competition Law. Stanton ruled that the suit did not prove Spotify had a duty to stop artificial streaming.
The lawsuit centered on Drake, noting that a non-trivial share of his 37 billion streams came from bot accounts. It argued this practice cost other artists hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties.
RBX plans to file an amended complaint within 20 days. Drake filed a separate 2024 lawsuit against Spotify and Universal Music Group over alleged stream manipulation involving Kendrick Lamar.
