Singer Ariana Grande has filed a lawsuit alleging she has been targeted by unknown hackers who have stolen songs, videos, photographs and other materials and illegally profited by selling them on the “dark web.”
The lawsuit, which was submitted Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, does not name any specific defendants, saying she is taking legal action “to uncover the identities of these currently unknown and unscrupulous individuals in order to hold them accountable for their invasive and reprehensible conduct.”
“This action arises from the illegal hacking of various personal digital accounts of photographers and producers who have worked closely with Ms. Grande, resulting in unlawful and egregious theft, dissemination and exploitation of unreleased content belonging to Ms. Grande,” according to the lawsuit. “These hackers (and other downstream figures) have then sold this personal data and content on the dark web for significant sums of money.”
The suit claims hackers engaged in phishing scams and other cyberattack methods to access digital accounts and materials from photographers and producers she has worked with.
“In 2023 alone, 45 unreleased songs belonging to Ms. Grande were hacked, stolen and leadked by defendants,” according to the suit. “Since her music debut in 2011, hundreds of similar leaks have taken place.”
The suit cites one 2019 instance in which hackers obtained the login credentials to a photographer’s DropBox account, then stole unreleased photos of the singer. In 2020, criminals hacked the cell phone of a producer and downloaded “still-in-production, unreleased masters and demos and footage from recording sessions.”
In 2024, hackers employed a phishing scam targeting a technician working for a photographer Grande had worked with, convincing the victim to send the hackers unreleased photos of Grande, according to the suit.
“After obtaining Ms. Grande’s content illegally through the efforts as detailed above, defendants have sold and continue to sell the illegally obtained content to other defendants,” the suit states. “Defendants have sold and continue to sell the stolen content in batches to this present day, completing the transactions through third-party payment service providers, including but not limited to PayPal and CashApp.
“… Defendants’ actions have caused and continue to cause Ms. Grande economic and reputational harm,” according to the suit. “She has been forced to expend significant resources to investigate defendants’ illegal actions and to take down such materials published without her consent. In addition, defendants’ actions have led to instances, among others, where Ms. Grande was forced to re-record materials and modify the release dates of her upcoming projects and releases in order to protect her artistic works along with her personal and professional integrity.”
The 5-foot-2, 33-year-old “Hate That I Made You Love Me” artist is currently on her “Eternal Sunshine Tour” and she did five shows in the Southland in June — three at the Kia Forum and two at Crypto.com Arena.