Ariana Grande is suing the hackers who have been leaking her unreleased music
The pop superstar has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles to uncover anonymous hackers who targeted her producers and photographers to steal unreleased content.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Ariana Grande filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles County Superior Court against unidentified hackers on Monday.
- The legal action reveals that 45 unreleased songs were hacked, stolen, and leaked in 2023 alone.
- Hackers have repeatedly targeted producers, photographers, and technicians working with Grande since 2011.
Pop star Ariana Grande has taken decisive legal action by filing a lawsuit in the Los Angeles County Superior Court targeting the currently unidentified hackers who have allegedly stolen and leaked her private content for years. The legal filing aims to unmask these unknown individuals, who are designated in court documents as John Doe 1 and John Does 2 through 100.
According to the court documents, 45 unreleased songs were compromised and leaked during 2023 alone, with hundreds of similar incidents occurring ever since Grande launched her music career back in 2011. The stolen digital materials encompass a wide variety of unreleased assets, including:
- Still-in-production, unreleased masters and demos
- Footage captured during recording sessions and music videos
- Behind-the-scenes photographs and video recordings
- Outtakes from album productions and exclusive photoshoot sessions
The lawsuit accuses the anonymous hackers of commercializing the stolen material by selling it, as well as uploading the files onto social media platforms such as X, TikTok, and YouTube. These unauthorized actions are described as a blatant invasion of privacy and a direct violation of California’s Comprehensive Data Access and Fraud Act, a statute that has previously surfaced in high-profile tech litigation like Sony’s lawsuit against George Hotz and Meta’s legal battle against Pegasus spyware.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
The decision by a major global artist like Ariana Grande to pursue litigation against anonymous hackers highlights a persistent vulnerability within the entertainment industry. When unreleased audio and video assets leak, it damages both artistic control and commercial value. The tactic of breaching third-party associates, such as photographers and producers, demonstrates that cybercriminals often bypass direct security measures to exploit the human elements within a celebrity's creative supply chain.
As previously reported by Variety, the lawsuit details a pattern of bad actors repeatedly targeting individuals closely associated with Grande. In a 2019 incident, hackers infiltrated a photographer's Dropbox account to steal private images. The following year, unreleased video footage was extracted from a producer's hacked mobile device, and in 2024, scammers deployed phishing emails to acquire unreleased photos from a technician collaborating with one of Grande's photographers.
Source: The Verge
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