There are plenty of shady tactics floating around in the music industry, and botting happens to be one of the most talked about. It even played a role in the early accusations Drake made against UMG over the success of “Not Like Us.” Those claims were eventually debunked when Spotify confirmed the streaming numbers were real. “I talked to my man from Spotify. [...] Them Kendrick streams is real,” DJ Akademiks said after fueling speculation around the track’s popularity.

Most of the time, these stories turn out to be nothing more than rumors. But in the case of Ice Spice, things might be a little different. A post from itsavibe on X pointed out that YouTube users were noticing a suspiciously fast jump in views for her “Baddie Baddie” music video.

Some people began blaming the Bronx rapper directly, accusing her of buying the numbers herself. “From 1 to 5 million in 37 minutes and 0 new comments. Dear Spice, don’t embarrass yourself with bots,” one person wrote.

“You forgot to buy the likes too sis,” another added. Ice Spice, however, made it clear she isn’t behind any of it. She accused someone else of inflating her views and called them out on X, writing, “somebody thought they ate buying views for me [laughing emoji]... bby it’s chess, not checkers [saluting emoji].”

No one really knows who’s responsible for the sudden view spike, but the situation raises fresh questions about what’s real and what isn’t in the world of streaming. Still, the “Baddie Baddie” video was already star-studded and full of eye-catching moments, so it may have eventually reached its 6.8 million views on its own.

The visual features Olympic gold medalist and American gymnast Suni(sa) Lee, model Anok Yai, and rising artist Bb trickz. It also came on the heels of Ice Spice’s public truce with Latto through their viral single “Gyatt.”

Neither Ice Spice nor Latto has gone into much detail about what caused their beef to end. Many fans believe the collaboration was more of a business move than anything else. Latto didn’t do much to change that perception either, giving a polished answer about their decision to work together. “Girls, you know, we just… Her team reached out to my team, and we figured it out. At first I was like, [disapproving ‘hrmph’], but then I was like, [approving ‘hrmph’].”