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Spotify has spent the past year quietly removing tens of thousands of fake podcasts that were allegedly being used to promote illegal online pharmacies and scam websites. Now, a new congressional report is raising questions about how the scheme was able to flourish on one of the world’s largest audio platforms in the first place.

According to the Wired report, bad actors created thousands of fake podcasts that were never intended to attract real listeners. Instead, they were designed to manipulate Spotify’s search rankings and boost the visibility of websites selling prescription drugs without prescriptions, including opioids, stimulants, and benzodiazepines.

Spotify reportedly removed more than 57,000 podcast episodes, over 3,000 podcast shows, and took action against roughly 3,500 accounts connected to the operation. The takedown came after sustained scrutiny from lawmakers and media investigations that highlighted the scale of the problem.

The report was led by Senator Maggie Hassan, who criticized Spotify for not moving quickly enough and for failing to report the activity to law enforcement despite links to websites involved in illegal drug sales.

The podcasts were never really podcasts

One of the more surprising details is that most of the content wasn’t created to be consumed.

Spotify told investigators that many of the fake podcasts functioned primarily as search-engine spam. The operators reportedly stuffed podcast titles, descriptions, and cover art with links directing users to online pharmacy websites and scam operations. The goal was to exploit Spotify’s authority in search engines and improve the ranking of those external sites.

In fact, Spotify said 94% of the removed episodes received zero plays, while 99% attracted fewer than 10 streams. However, some episodes did find an audience. A handful reportedly generated thousands of listens and included instructions for purchasing drugs such as modafinil using cryptocurrency.

The report also found similar content appearing across other podcast platforms, highlighting how easy it has become to distribute large amounts of low-quality content across multiple services at once.

AI is making the spam problem even bigger

Researchers and lawmakers believe artificial intelligence is making these operations easier to run.

The report points to AI-generated podcasts featuring synthetic voices and automatically generated content designed to mimic legitimate shows. Spotify told investigators it currently has AI moderation systems for music spam but does not specifically prohibit AI-generated podcasts. The company also acknowledged that it is not particularly well-positioned to identify AI-created podcast content.

Spotify says it uses automated detection tools, human reviewers, and external moderation services to identify rule-breaking content. However, the congressional report argues that the scale of the fake podcast operation demonstrates significant gaps in those defenses.

The incident highlights a growing challenge facing internet platforms. As AI makes it cheaper and faster to create content at scale, spam campaigns no longer need websites alone. They can exploit trusted platforms, search algorithms, and recommendation systems to reach users in ways that are increasingly difficult to detect.

For Spotify, the controversy is a reminder that content moderation challenges are no longer limited to social networks. Even podcast platforms are becoming targets for sophisticated spam operations designed to game search rankings and funnel users toward illegal or potentially dangerous services.

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Platinum Games is hiring new staff for an online action game, following the departure of several well known developers from the company.

Spotted by Tech4Gamers, the company listed a game designer role on its official website, stating that an online action game is in the works at the studio. The job listing lists some desired skills, including experience working on online action games as well as history in level design for online or “open field” games.

Platinum Games, which is currently working on Ninja Gaiden 4 alongside Team Ninja, has had a mixed run these past few years. Bayonetta 3, got a positive review from us, Babylon’s Fall was an astronomical failure, and senior developers have left, including but not limited to Hideki Kamiya.

Given Babylon’s Fall, the online action title listed in this job ad would be the studio’s second attempt at this style of game. Platinum Games has long struggled with financial success, even as its single player games have proven critically popular, garnering a loyal fanbase over the years. Games like Astral Chain, which were absolutely mint, never quite brought in the big bucks. The company’s desire to pursue online games makes business sense with this in mind, even if older Platinum Games fans see the sort of games they loved become less of a priority.

Given that Platinum is only hiring right now for this online action game, it’s safe to say we probably won’t see it any time soon. But still, it’s something to keep an eye out for. We know Platinum Games has several games cooking in the oven at the moment (Ninja Gaiden 4 included), so while recent years have marked a new era for Platinum, it’s clear the studio isn’t finished just yet.

Do you think making an online action game is the smart move for Platinum? Let us know below!

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Right, if you were hoping to play a single copy of the same game online across two Nintendo Switch 2s, it appears you’re out of luck. Nintendo’s rolled out its new Virtual Game Cards to the classic Switch via an update that lays the groundwork for the new console, and it’s reportedly gotten rid of the ability play the same digital copy online on two systems simulataneously.

This was first identified by folks on ResetEra, who clearly downloaded the Switch software version 20.0.0 that Ninty’s just released and immediately decided to have some fun with a mate. The change itself is seemingly a bit of murky one – the method it’s nixed was viewed by some players as a cheeky “loophole” and its striking from the record looks to just be down to the different way that Game Cards handle Switch games.

Basically, what people had previously been doing in order to play Switch games online with a mate is logging into the game owner’s account on two different Switch consoles – a ‘primary’ one and a ‘secondary’ one. The primary one would see the game owner set up their copy of the game, then hand over to the second player who’d sign in to their own account and still be able to fire up the instyalled game to play online.

Then, the game owner would turn on the ‘secondary’ Switch, log into their account to install that same game, then be able to play it online. Boom, two people on two Switches playinmg the same digital copy of a game online together, via a method that’s a lot easier to do than it to explain without twisting your tongue and tonsils together.

However, with the deployment of these Virtual Game Cards, it’s reportedly no longer possible to follow that and play online, because the Game Cards treat digital games like a single cartrige. However, simultaneous offline play looks like it’s still on the table, even if it’ll require you to set your Switch as offline via a new Online License option in the settings.

Naturally, folks who love a good bit of online play with a mate and don’t want to have to buy two copies of a game are pretty unhappy with Nintendo having gotten rid of something they’d been doing on the reg just before it drops its new console. The word “downgrade” is being chucked about in the thread I linked earlier

Now, the Switch 2 isn’t here yet, so there’s a chance Nintendo sees the backlash and comes up with a solution – or at least makes it clear whether features like Gameshare, which has also been rolled out with this Switch update and currently will let you play some games online together via local wireless, will become a fully-blown catch-all replacement for the method that’s been taken off the table.

Were you regularly using this method to share your Switch library and play online with your mates, partner, or Grandma? Let us know below!

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Earlier this year, Bethesda announced it would be bringing The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered to the Switch 2 in 2026.

Now, in an update, the game’s Deluxe Edition has been rated by the ESRB. There’s also a rating for the standard version of the game. It’s got a mature rating and contains blood and gore, sexual themes and violence.

This title was originally announced for the Switch 2 in February. As noted in our previous story, Bethesda confirmed the game would be distributed physically as a code-in-box release at a later date.

Keep in mind, there’s no specific release date for Oblivion Remastered on the Switch 2 just yet, but hopefully, this is a sign that the title isn’t too far away. This same game was released for Xbox, PlayStation and PC in April 2025.

Admittedly, it wasn’t in the best state on arrival, but received multiple updates to improve the overall experience. Here’s what Push Square had to say about the PS5 version on release:

“Oblivion Remastered is a welcome reminder of just how special the 2006 RPG can be. Performance issues and tedious design elements aside, Virtuos and Bethesda deserve real credit for bringing Oblivion back in such a way that doesn’t detract from the original vision, and the meme-worthy identity that it’s fostered over the years. This is, arguably, the definitive Oblivion experience — or at least it will be, once the awkward wrinkles have been ironed out.”

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Well, it’s happened. The Nintendo Switch 2 has reportedly emerged into the wild ahead of time, into the hands of people on the internet who’re keen to make videos showing off the fact that you open the box and boom – there’s a Switch 2 in there. It doesn’t look like any such folks are actually able to play games on the console though, thanks to an impending update.

As spotted by IGN, a YouTuber with the handle a2dubai appears to have posted a short video of them unboxing what’s either a Switch 2 or a convincing replica of the new console on May 27. In case you forgot, the Switch 2 isn’t set to properly come out until June 5.

Said video has since been nuked via a copyright claim by Web Capio, a company which “offers bespoke anti-piracy services”.

Prior to that, a commenter had reportedly asked for “more video please” – very polite for a Youtube comments section, good work rando – leading a2dubai to respond: “Nintendo locked the Switch 2, it needs [an] update to function, so I’m waiting for June 5th to unlock it.”

So, no clips of this potentially real Switch 2 actually playing any games, with news and deals aggregator Wario64 having claimed to have heard from a second person who’s acquired a Switch 2 early. “I have no permission to post pics but can share that when they try to boot a Switch 1 game, a message prompts ‘Please connect to the internet and update your system’,” they posted, “Needs update to boot a game.”

As fellow poster Stealth40k put it, if these are real Switch 2s and the need for an update’s also genuine, that would mean the console’s “basically a very nice paperweight” until release. To be fair, that’ll at least be handy for these alleged early adopters if Ninty and its lawyers decide to hunt them down and deliver some sheets of paper that say something to the effect of ‘please don’t do this again’ in legalese.

Do you think this is all a sneaky 4D chess marketing campaign to make us all want Nintendo to start selling actual Switch 2-shaped paperweights? Let us know below, and make sure to check out the rest of our Switch 2 coverage in the run up to release. You know you’re keen to find out more about Yakuza 0 Director’s Cut’s Red Light Raid Mode.

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Resident Evil Code: Veronica is getting a remake for the Switch 2 next year, and it’s already led to questions about the possibility of the GameCube version Resident Evil Code: Veronica X being revived for the ‘Nintendo Classics’ Switch Online + Expansion Pack service.

Unfortunately, at least right now, there are “no plans for that”. This was noted by Capcom producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi during a private Q&A session last week.

“Will the GameCube version of Veronica be coming to Switch Online’s Expansion Pack anytime soon? There are “no plans for that,” Hirabayashi said”

Nintendo’s GameCube library for the Switch 2 currently features a total of nine games, and includes titles such as Chibi-Robo!, Mario Smash Football, F-Zero GX and Soul Calibur II. Nintendo has also revealed a few other titles for the service, which haven’t been made available yet.

If it’s anything like the Nintendo 64 library, certain “mature” titles in the GameCube collection would likely require a separate application. Code: Veronica originally debuted on the Dreamcast in 2000 and was followed by Veronica X in 2001, which was then ported to the GameCube in 2003.

Capcom will release the upcoming remake of Resident Evil Veronica for the Switch 2 and multiple other platforms in 2027.

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The mall is making a comeback.

As younger people return to American shopping malls in greater numbers, a startup called “The Mall” is bringing the concept online with an app that lets users create a personalized virtual mall from their favorite brands and track sales in one place.

The idea itself is simple, if not novel. But its arrival now feels more timely, as customers face an increasingly fragmented online shopping landscape that has become harder to keep up with their favorite brands.

That challenge is what first inspired The Mall’s co-founder and COO Ellie Konsker, whose background includes working at companies like Tom Ford and Karla Otto. At her first startup, a sustainable fashion marketplace, Konsker spotted a larger issue in the fashion and marketing space.

“Consumers were shopping across 20 tabs at once, signing up [their] emails for newsletters, and trying to be able to track brands and piece all that information together in real time,” Konsker said. “It’s hard, and it makes shopping a very frustrating process.

Konsker connected with co-founder and CEO Sreya Halder, who studied computer science at Stanford, as part of a female founders circle in Los Angeles.

“We were both super aligned on creating this world where everyone has access to all of the brands that exist on the internet,” noted Halder. “As a founder, I was looking at other apps — like Letterboxd, Goodreads, Spotify — and they’ve created these databases for all of those creative outlets — for music, movies, books. And fashion, and shopping, didn’t actually exist, so we started out wanting to build [something] like a Spotify, but for shopping,” she said.

The pair founded The Mall in October 2025, with a focus on bringing together fashion brands under one digital roof.

Instead of partnering with brands or using APIs, The Mall uses technology to scrape retail websites, pulling in entire catalogs, and tracking product and pricing information within its own app. This scraping is frequent enough to keep an eye out for sales, restocks, drops, and other promotions, which it then alerts users to via push notifications.

At launch, users create their own virtual mall by adding their favorite brands upon signing up, which allows them to immediately track any changes. While The Mall’s current database includes more than 10,000 brands, consumers can add any other brand they want, simply by sharing the brand’s Instagram or TikTok account. (The Mall will determine if there’s a matching e-commerce site and then scrape its catalog, adding those items to its database.)

On the back end, the startup uses LLMs (large language models) and its own custom models to label everything it pulls into its system, which allows users to search for specific products and drops.

When users are ready to buy, a browser page opens inside the app, taking users to the brand’s e-commerce site to check out. There’s no traditional affiliate model involved here, the company says. Instead, The Mall is meant to work more as a discovery tool.

As users build their collections of brands, they can choose to have them discoverable by others or kept private. The founders see the potential for this to work as a discovery tool among friends and among people who follow creators for their fashion sense.

“As you dig in, you’ll end up going down this rabbit hole and finding more and more things from brands that you never would have seen or heard of unless they delivered an ad to you,” Konsker noted.

Users can also discover possible lower-priced alternatives to specific products, she said. “You can look at a piece and then see what is similar to this piece across any brand in the world. So you can see if a piece is priced a little bit lower or higher in different colorways,” Konsker added.

The Mall is a free app for consumers. The company plans to make money by building a data tool for brands that will allow them to analyze their clicks, look at how other brands are thinking about their seasonal assortments, and help them plan.

“Over time, we see those two paths crossing, where once we have enough shoppers on our consumer product, then it becomes a really great advertising platform for brands to have sponsored billboards and…weekly or monthly subscriptions, where they show up in these recommendations and in your feed,” Halder said.

This B2B product is expected to launch later this summer. Data shared with brands is anonymous and aggregated. It doesn’t contain personal details, the founders confirmed.

The Mall has been in early beta testing with 4,500 testers and is now launching on an invite-only referral basis as it slowly scales. (If you know someone with access, they can invite you. There isn’t a set number of invites per user.)

The Mall should be broadly available by the end of the summer. The app is currently a free download on the App Store.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

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Just when you thought Minecraft couldn’t possibly exist on another platform, a rating board comes along to suggest otherwise.

The ESRB website has been updated with a Minecraft listing specifically for Switch 2 — a different listing to the ones for PS5 and Switch/Xbox Series (thanks for the heads up, Nintendo Everything). It’s another E10+ for fantasy violence and in-game purchases, naturally, but it also suggests that maybe (maybe) another Nintendo Switch 2 Edition could be on the way.

Nothing has been officially confirmed at the time of writing, though the presence of a separate listing has us wondering whether we might soon see Mojang’s magnum opus come to the new system. A visual bump and mouse controls could go a long way, you know!

Of course, the game is already technically available on Switch 2 through the magic of Switch 1 backwards compatibility, so we suppose there’s a chance that this might just be an update. Then again, we wouldn’t expect to see a whole new page just for the S2 in this instance.

We’ll consider things with a firm pinch of salt, for the time being. The rating comes just days after the weekend’s Minecraft Live event revealed new mobs, biomes, a Dungeons sequel and an updated look at the second movie.

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