Ariana Grande sues anonymous hackers for allegedly stealing and leaking unreleased music and footage

Ariana Grande has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles against anonymous hackers, alleging they gained unauthorised access to digital devices and accounts, leading to the theft and distribution of unreleased music, videos and photographs.

According to Variety, the lawsuit, filed on Monday, targets a group of unnamed John Does accused of carrying out phishing scams and hacking schemes that resulted in the “unlawful and egregious theft, dissemination, and exploitation of unreleased content”.

Grande's legal team alleges the defendants accessed the personal digital accounts of photographers and producers who worked closely with the singer before selling the stolen material for “significant sums of money”.

The lawsuit states that Grande is seeking to identify those responsible and hold them accountable.

It says she is suing unnamed John Does to “uncover the identities of these currently unknown and unscrupulous individuals in order to hold them accountable for their invasive and reprehensible conduct”.

The filing adds that “it is imperative to Ms. Grande to ensure — on behalf of herself and others — that such conduct is deterred to the fullest extent possible.”

According to the complaint, hundreds of leaks have occurred since Grande launched her music career in 2011.

The lawsuit alleges that hackers obtained login credentials for a photographer's Dropbox account in 2019 before later accessing a music producer's mobile device in 2020, where they allegedly stole unreleased masters, demos and recording session footage.

The filing further claims that hackers gained access to 45 unreleased songs in 2023, which were subsequently leaked online.

It also alleges that in 2024, individuals created a Gmail account and domain name impersonating a photographer to obtain unreleased photographs belonging to Grande from a digital technician.