Man gets 18 months for $8M scheme: bots streamed his AI-generated songs 10x Taylor Swift
MatthewChang · x · 2026-10-12
Michael Smith was sentenced to 18 months in prison for an $8 million streaming fraud: he used up to 10,000 bot accounts to stream songs he controlled, and generated hundreds of thousands of AI tracks to spread fake plays thin enough to avoid detection. At its peak his catalog out-streamed Taylor Swift's (9.3M plays) by 10x — fake musicians, fake fans, real money.
Related event: Man Sentenced to 18 Months for $8M AI Song Streaming Royalty Fraud(2 posts)→
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