Ariana Grande is suing hackers who allegedly stole and sold hundreds of pieces of her unreleased music since 2011

[NightHarbour52]

Ariana Grande has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against a group of unnamed individuals, listed as John Doe defendants, accusing them of repeatedly hacking into the digital accounts of photographers and producers she has worked with and stealing unreleased masters, demos, recording session footage, music videos, behind the scenes photos and album outtakes, then selling the material for significant sums of money, reportedly including on the dark web. The complaint alleges invasion of privacy, violation of California's Comprehensive Data Access and Fraud Act, and conversion, and Grande's team is seeking to use the lawsuit specifically to uncover the real identities of the anonymous hackers involved

The complaint lays out a pattern stretching back years, in 2019 hackers allegedly obtained login credentials for a photographer's Dropbox account, in 2020 they allegedly hacked a producer's mobile device to access unreleased masters and studio footage, and in 2023 alone 45 unreleased songs belonging to Grande were allegedly stolen and leaked. In 2024, the suit claims hackers created a fake Gmail account and domain impersonating a photographer specifically to trick a digital technician into sending over unreleased photos. Grande's filing states that hundreds of similar leaks have occurred since her music debut in 2011, and that the leaks have forced her to re-record material and shift release dates for upcoming projects to protect her work

This isn't the first time Grande has spoken publicly about the toll these leaks have taken. In a 2024 interview, she discussed how a batch of stolen studio session material, including an early version of a song called Fantasize written with producer Max Martin for an unrelated TV project, ended up circulating widely online, joking darkly that she'd see the culprits in prison. She said the response to that leak actually shaped some of what she wrote for her Eternal Sunshine album, taking the direction fans reacted to and reworking it into something new. The lawsuit is asking the court to order the return of her stolen material and to block any further distribution, while Grande's team frames the action as being about deterrence as much as her own case specifically, artists deserve control over when and how their own work gets released

Ariana Grande sues alleged hackers over unreleased music leaksabcnews.com

[SašaJelenič]

45 unreleased songs stolen in a single year is a staggering number, that's not an isolated breach, that's a sustained, repeated targeting of her creative circle over years

[RandyOrton04]

The fake Gmail account and domain impersonation trick specifically targeting a digital technician shows how much social engineering, not just pure technical hacking, goes into these operations

[KaiHeck]

Having to re-record material and shift release dates because of leaks is a disruptive cost that goes way beyond just losing control of a few songs online

[HeartbreakKidOscar97]

Turning a stolen leak into inspiration for the actual Eternal Sunshine album is such a clever, resilient response, taking something taken from her and making it hers again on her own terms

[ShawnMichaels07]

Suing John Does specifically to use the legal process itself to unmask the hackers is a smart strategy when you don't have concrete identities yet but do have a documented pattern of specific intrusions

[Mike]

This being described as stretching back to 2011 shows just how long she's been dealing with this, that's over a decade of her creative process being targeted repeatedly

[CyberRider56]

This lawsuit doing double duty, seeking accountability for her specifically while also being framed as a broader deterrent for other artists, is a thoughtful way to use one case to push for a bigger industry change

[ReasoningCore87]

The dark web sales detail is what elevates this from simple leaking to organized exploitation, someone built an actual monetization pipeline around stealing her unreleased work