Judge permanently dismisses rapper RBX's Spotify bot-fraud class action over Drake streams

Spotify has won a lawsuit that accused it of letting bots inflate streams. A federal judge has dismissed rapper RBX's class action for the second time, and this time with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled, according to Digital Music News.

The case at a glance

• Case: RBX v. Spotify
• Plaintiff: rapper RBX
• Ruling: dismissed with prejudice, reported on 26 October 2026
• Earlier ruling: first dismissed without prejudice in June 2026

What RBX claimed

1. Spotify allowed widespread bot-assisted streams, including ones benefiting Drake.
2. A meaningful share of Drake's more than 37 billion streams came from bot accounts.
3. Because Spotify pays artists from a shared pool, fake streams took hundreds of millions of dollars from other artists.
4. Spotify was negligent and broke California's Unfair Competition Law.

Why the judge threw it out

The judge found the amended complaint relied on vague and conclusory claims. She ruled Spotify had no legal duty to protect RBX from bots and found no evidence that Spotify misled users about its anti-fraud policies.

Why it matters

Streaming fraud is one of the music industry's biggest open problems, and artists have argued that fake plays dilute their earnings. This ruling suggests courts will not easily hold platforms liable for it, leaving the fight to platform policies, distributors and industry pressure rather than class actions.