Spotify details its ongoing algorithmic updates and moderation efforts against AI-generated music and low-quality spam across recommendation feeds, removing 50 million tracks in 2026 while highlighting the technical limitations of automated detection.
In an update published on October 20, 2026, Spotify said that in the six months leading up to the announcement, it had changed its listening recommendations to feature more songs by human artists. Spotify editors do not include songs that have been marked as spam in their curated playlists.
The company said the changes were based on data about songs that listeners were skipping, ignoring, or saying they didn’t want to hear. Spotify says the changes have seen a significant reduction in complaints about such content in recommendations. It uses song information, user comments, posting patterns, and third-party tools to identify unwanted songs. It acknowledges, however, that AI-generated music discovery tools have limitations and may become more difficult as technology evolves.
How many songs have been deleted?
Spotify says it has removed more than 75 million unwanted songs for serious or repeated violations of its rules, the same number it announced in September 2025. A spokesperson for the company told Music Business Worldwide that the removals are ongoing, but did not provide a more recent total.
The two numbers are about different things: 50 million songs were removed from listening suggestions in 2026, while more than 75 million were deleted due to violations. Spotify has not clarified whether the 50 million were permanently deleted from the platform.
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How the use of artificial intelligence appears
Spotify says artists submit tens of thousands of disclosures every day about the role of artificial intelligence in their songs. Listeners can already see this information on the playback screen of the mobile app. The company plans to add other ways to display it.
Thousands of virtual artists are labeled “AI Persona.” Their songs don’t appear in editor-curated playlists or, by default, in listening suggestions. They may appear, for example, if the user follows the artist.
According to the report, Spotify does not pay royalties for songs with fewer than 1.000 streams. The company claims that songs with indications that they were likely created by artificial intelligence are ten times more likely to fall below this threshold.
More than 300.000 human artists have been verified on Spotify. According to the company, they cover more than 99% of the artists users search for. Spotify is also testing a tool that allows musicians to approve which songs appear on their profiles and plans to make it available to everyone by the end of 2026.
A Spotify spokesperson told the BBC that the company's priority is to tackle harmful uses of AI, such as spam and artist impersonation, but that the goal is not to filter music based on how it was created.
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