Unable to remove songs from collaborative playlist

[sunflower123123]

I've been trying to remove songs from a collaborative playlist that I have with my friend, however I'm unable to do so. I am currently using the Spotify desktop app and I have followed/liked the playlist. Although I can click and see the "Remove from playlist" button, but whenever I click that, the song just pops back. Any idea on why this is happening? 

[snc243]

Plan

Premium

Country 

USA

My Question or Issue

In the recent months, nearly EVERY one of my collaborative playlists have been spammed by bots. I don't mean people I am not in touch with adding to my playlists, I mean, repeatedly, bot accounts that have no connection to me are adding dozens of songs to my playlist from a specific unknown artist (completely different than my playlist's genre), presumably to cheat the Spotify system and gain more streams to their audio. These are not well followed playlists (maybe 1 follow each), so I can only assume that they were found by bots. 

I'm posting because:

1. Spotify needs to find a way to prevent these bots from existing and spamming playlists

2. Users need a way to report these bot accounts so their playlists aren't abused (and Spotify's streaming system isn't cheated)

There are a few closed threads that discuss this, but no longer allow me to vote for. I've only noticed this in the past several months, but, again, it's happened to nearly all of my playlists.

I'm going through the trouble of posting because this is strongly affecting my use of Spotify and enjoyment of my few public playlists, and it's very taxing to frequently remove hundreds of added spam songs.

[Cdubpowell]

This exact thing happened to me and using THE SAME ARTIST! I was listening and suddenly heard this awful song that I needed to skip HARD!

I like your idea that users need a way to report these bot accounts so their playlists aren't abused (and Spotify's streaming system isn't cheated).

[Cdubpowell]

PS—It took me 3 tries to post this because Spotify kept erroring out! Just sayin.

[Alex]

Hey folks,

Thanks for reaching out about this in the Community!

We know it must be frustrating to have bots add songs to the playlists you share with your friends. I've had this happen to myself and I know how annoying it is. Other users feel the same way and have created this Idea about limiting the editing access to Collaborative playlists, which has now been marked as Good Suggestion. It would be great if you can add your +Vote. The more votes an Idea gets, the more likely it is to get implemented. Here you can read more on how ideas work.

Regarding reporting bot accounts - Spotify takes streaming manipulation in all forms seriously and responds proactively to reports and also works behind the scenes to prevent this. It would be helpful if you can send us a link to the profile which is added songs to your collaborative playlists repeatedly, so that we can pass this info on to the right teams.

Keep us posted.

[snc243]

Okay @Alex, liked the other discussion topic as well on selectively adding playlist contributors.

I didn't save the link to the user/bot's profile before deleting their songs, though I did screenshot the profile. 

[Alex]

Hey @snc243,

Thanks for keeping us in the loop.

If this happens on any of your playlists again, it would be very helpful if you can save a link to the profile which has added the songs and share it here.

Cheers.

[snc243]

Thanks @Alex! 

It just so happens that another playlist of mine has been spammed by another bot promoting the same artist as before (Pesukone + a few others). Pretty soon after, haha.

Here's the link to the bot account: https://open.spotify.com/user/h1c9b881ahmpnalw9g0r325zi?si=d8cfae888c424897

Best, 

Skylar

[MafeG]

Hi @snc243,

Thank you for your reply!

We're sorry to hear this keeps happening with your playlists. For now, we suggest you block the bot users by opening their profile, then click on the 3 dot menu and select "Block".

After this, it's necessary you create a new collaborative playlist and move the tracks there. This way, these blocked users won't have any access to your profile and your playlists.

Let us know if you have any questions.

[snc243]

Oh my gooodness! It's only been two weeks and the same playlist (again, only 1 follower and a completely different genre) has been spammed by a different bot account posting the same songs! This is so annoying! 

@MafeG Since they're different spam accounts that keep targeting my public playlists, blocking each account individually and recreating my playlist isn't very helpful.

If it's useful, the link to the most recent bot's profile is: https://open.spotify.com/user/31tkw47qylxnxdp66gpntgtet4mu?si=ftMk3go8SMK8-sy4bB3YZw&utm_source=copy...

[Krewki]

Hey,

same thing happend to me, collaborative playlist has been spammed by bots promoting the same artist as above (Pesukone, S productions, SongBot and few others). First link is I think to @snc243 profile screenshot.

https://open.spotify.com/user/v6rx3i6zf2lb74kfh1qna45eh?si=73f7c01670e84b4f

https://open.spotify.com/user/31cufn2mlsomd3l453hdznw32qxi?si=bc06abf610db4e75

[vrwi]

This has also happened to me multiple times, each from a different account (the latest was: 

https://open.spotify.com/user/31jqdyccngvlf3whauin7qghv7re?si=e4f418e1be2f406f) This is always the artist Pesukone, though. Please investigate this artist.

[Scottthetrain]

I had an entire reply typed out, but it got deleted. So bottom line, there are multiple bot accounts spamming 3 “artists” “music” on my collaborative playlists. The quotations are there because the music is actually so bad… 

The 3 main “artists” are Pesukone, Song bot, and S Productions. They are all complicit, and them probably knowing their music**bleep**, created bot accounts to spam playlists with, since that is the only way they get streams.

[Eni]

Hey folks! 

Thanks for all the info you've sent so far. 

We've gone ahead and reported this to the right team to be looked into. 

If you have any questions or need a hand with anything else, just let us know. 

[TobiasVilen]

I’m having exactly the same problem, three users spamming the same artist mentioned above…

https://open.spotify.com/user/31gqrh4nausj5puvztvwoh4bm2cy?si=PPOchq8QQvO542cINE77Uw
https://open.spotify.com/user/31oeo7i2vxmmttgeob6v2rhoqrmm?si=KQ4KZaNbR8aoaLrOoYtjOA

https://open.spotify.com/user/31adr6b4dhqwrpeaq2hq2hanap2q?si=RWqBijl2RzehNHbfRAcxtg

[snc243]

Again. Same playlist. 

https://open.spotify.com/user/31tnbnmz4hycseycehaoulq54x7i?si=PZtk2tOcQyeg0hdIGmRkEw&utm_source=copy...

And another bot (same Pesukone songs) on another small (2 follower playlist):

https://open.spotify.com/user/31j25ewniaez36doriuohdqyik4i?si=5Ms3MZyhSca-9TePYg6V5w&utm_source=copy...

[staceyprotas]

This has also happened to me frequently. The spam accounts have attacked every single one of my collaborative playlists. Every time it is the same artists (Empty Elevator, Pesukone, SongBot, S productions Mizta Z, Teddy Hits, Drip Overkill) so please remove their music from the platform. Here are the links to the most recent users spamming my playlists. 

https://open.spotify.com/user/31j25ewniaez36doriuohdqyik4i?si=fa03d1e4c4824b54

https://open.spotify.com/user/31vjulgptwjzcjgidosamc7ptdjq?si=f7c47dbe2fd446ba

https://open.spotify.com/user/31tkw47qylxnxdp66gpntgtet4mu?si=3f30f550244e4209

https://open.spotify.com/user/31vo672bdshmagz5jzqwnbblsmx4?si=45defba7a19a4bdc

https://open.spotify.com/user/31pd2smymjcuiwjc5r7tmo6vuvyi?si=e20c69548f95448b

https://open.spotify.com/user/31adr6b4dhqwrpeaq2hq2hanap2q?si=9f87ae0134e2452d

https://open.spotify.com/user/31gqrh4nausj5puvztvwoh4bm2cy?si=6ba36dfdf6a14b32

[lokonji]

same issue here, I don't understand why you still have their music on your platform since there is a clear link. pesukone et al can't get people to listen to their music so instead they're spamming us in an attempt to profit. I'm happy to see that you're working on a fix to restrict editing. In the meantime, while I'm glad you've opened this thread to allow us to report profiles, it seems like a shortcoming that there is still no option to report profiles for spam. I only found this page because I googled the problem.

profiles:

https://open.spotify.com/user/3162fsf3xeingcovlbs5wluet7vu?si=143cc8ac289045b6

https://open.spotify.com/user/31tnbnmz4hycseycehaoulq54x7i?si=4fc5041c521f4071

https://open.spotify.com/user/31ayx3ggh2z6fym3ayyf7x3ipelu?si=83f86570ac51433b

[Jeremy]

Hi folks,

Thank you for your replies in this thread and for the provided information.

@staceyprotas - we've passed along your information to the right team.

@lokonji - can you provide us the URI to the playlists that this occurs on?

We'll keep an eye out for your reply.

Take care!

[lokonji]

hi, sent you a DM