Spotify removes 500 music plays after bots were used in rankings.

Spotify has removed over 500 plays of the song "Earrings" by American singer Malcolm Todd after identifying that the surge in plays was generated by bots. The song had reached the top spot on the daily ranking of most-played tracks on the platform in the United States.

According to the Financial Times, the number of plays of “Earrings” grew 70% between Sunday night (29) and Monday morning (30), taking the track, originally released in 2024, to the top of the charts. The investigation opened by Spotify concluded that automated programs were used to play the song repeatedly and artificially inflate its popularity.

The episode is related to suspicious bets on the prediction market platform Kalshi. In the week prior to Monday, bettors who predicted that Todd would have a song at number one on Spotify in the United States in June received a return of approximately 20 times their investment. When Spotify corrected the data and released the updated ranking on Wednesday (1st), the song fell to fourth position. Kalshi, however, had already paid the bettors who correctly predicted the result, considered highly improbable.

Request to betting platforms

After identifying the manipulation, Spotify contacted Kalshi and Polymarket and asked both companies to remove the streaming platform's logo from their interfaces. The company also requested that both publicly clarify that they have no partnership with Spotify.

Elisabeth Diana, a spokesperson for Kalshi, stated that the company is investigating the matter. "We are in contact with Spotify and actively investigating this issue," she declared.

In a statement sent to CBS News, a Spotify spokesperson said that all streaming services face constant attempts to manipulate streams. "Spotify has industry-leading detection and mitigation systems to identify manipulated streams and does not pay royalties associated with such manipulation," the statement said.

The Financial Times highlighted that there is no indication that Malcolm Todd or his team participated in the attempt to manipulate the music's audience.

Expansion of forecasting markets

The case comes amid growing concern about prediction markets, such as those operated by Kalshi and Polymarket, and the risk that their expansion will open new avenues for insider trading and market manipulation. The CFTC, the U.S. government regulatory agency responsible for overseeing this sector, has already seen the segment attract billions of dollars in venture capital investments.