Ariana Grande sues hackers over leaked songs and videos
Ariana Grande has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against unidentified hackers who allegedly stole and leaked her private content over the years. The complaint states that 45 unreleased songs were hacked in 2023 alone, with hundreds of similar leaks since her 2011 debut.
Ariana Grande filed a lawsuit on Monday in the Los Angeles County Superior Court against currently unidentified hackers who allegedly stole and leaked her private content. The lawsuit aims to “uncover the identities of these currently unknown and unscrupulous individuals,” referred to as “John Doe 1 and John Does 2 through 100.”
The complaint claims that “In 2023 alone, 45 unreleased songs” were “hacked, stolen, and leaked,” adding that hundreds of similar leaks have occurred since Grande’s music debut in 2011. The stolen content is said to include “still-in-production, unreleased masters and demos, footage from recording sessions, music videos, behind-the-scenes photographs and videos, as well as album and photoshoot outtakes.”
The lawsuit accuses the hackers of selling the content and publishing it on social media platforms like X, TikTok, and YouTube. It argues that their actions invade her privacy and violate California’s Comprehensive Data Access and Fraud Act, a law against unauthorized computer access. That law has appeared in cases such as Sony’s lawsuit against George Hotz and Meta’s lawsuit against the Pegasus spyware.
According to Variety, the lawsuit states that the hackers have repeatedly targeted people who work with Grande. In 2019, hackers stole Grande’s photos from a photographer’s Dropbox account. In 2020, unreleased footage was taken from a producer’s hacked mobile device. In 2024, scammers used phishing emails to obtain unreleased photos from a technician working with one of Grande’s photographers.
