Ariana Grande sues hackers who leaked music and videos

Pop star Ariana Grande has filed a lawsuit against two unidentified hackers who, she claims, leaked unreleased music and studio footage after gaining access to her collaborators' computers.

In papers filed in Los Angeles and reported by U.S. media outlets, the singer alleged the hackers had targeted photographers and producers in order to access material that was sold "on the dark web" for "significant sums of money".

"In 2023 alone, 45 unreleased songs belonging to Ms Grande were hacked, stolen, and leaked," the documents said. "Since her music debut in 2011, hundreds of similar leaks have taken place."

Grande has previously expressed her desire to hold hackers accountable for leaking unreleased music. During an interview with the Zach Sang show in 2024, she spoke about a song called "Fantasize", written with Swedish pop savant Max Martin, which went viral after being posted online.

"Those were all written for a TV show, for something that was not for me, so Fantasize comes out, crazy, was stolen... These pirates, crooks, illegal!" she said.

The lawsuit outlines an alleged pattern of illegal behaviour, in which the accounts of Grande's co-workers were systematically targeted over several years. In 2025, the suit claimed, the defendants hacked into the mobile device of a producer who had collaborated with Grande and accessed unreleased masters and demos and footage from recording sessions.

The case comes as Grande prepares for the release of her eighth studio album, Petal, this Friday, and while she is on her world tour slated to hit the UK in August. She has hinted the concerts would be her last for "a long time".

For those in the climate and research communities, Grande's lawsuit underscores the pressing need for secure digital protection of sensitive data—whether cultural, scientific, or environmental—lest the same hackers compromise critical information that could influence public policy and sustainability efforts.