Ariana Grande files lawsuit over widespread music and video leaks

• Ariana Grande filed a lawsuit against anonymous hackers for stealing and leaking unreleased content.
• The suit details breaches targeting her collaborators, resulting in 45 leaked songs in 2023.
• Hackers used phishing scams, including impersonating a photographer in 2024, to obtain photos.

Singer Ariana Grande filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles on Monday against anonymous hackers following the unauthorised release of her unreleased music and video content. The legal action targets unnamed John Does accused of executing phishing scams and hacking schemes to obtain confidential digital files. The stolen material includes unreleased songs, music video footage, and audio from recording sessions, which were subsequently sold for substantial financial sums.

Variety reported that the lawsuit aims to uncover the identities of the unknown individuals to hold them accountable for digital theft. Grande's legal team emphasised the necessity of deterrence, stating that legal action is imperative to prevent future security breaches. The court filing asserts that hundreds of content leaks have occurred since the singer launched her professional music career in 2011.

The legal filing details a series of digital security breaches targeting industry professionals who collaborated with Grande. Hackers gained unauthorised access to a photographer's Dropbox account in 2019 before compromising a producer's mobile device the following year. The 2020 breach allowed perpetrators to extract unreleased master recordings, demo tracks, and session footage. During 2023 alone, cybercriminals accessed and leaked 45 of Grande's unreleased songs.

The suit further outlines an incident in 2024 where hackers created a deceptive Gmail account and domain name to impersonate a photographer. The fraudulent setup was used to deceive a digital technician into transmitting unreleased photographs belonging to Grande. Representatives for Grande did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment regarding the ongoing court proceedings.