Photo Credit: Ariana Grande (@arianagrande / Instagram)
A judge has approved Ariana Grande’s request to subpoena information that will help reveal the identities of the hackers who allegedly leaked unreleased music and recording session footage.
A Los Angeles judge has granted Ariana Grande permission to subpoena information that will help identify the hackers who allegedly leaked unreleased music and footage from recording sessions. The star’s proposed order for expedited discovery was approved on Tuesday, August 18, with the judge noting that, as Grande is unable to identify the hackers, a waiting period should be waived.
“Given that there is no one to whom notice can be given anyway, it makes little sense to wait the 16 days,” wrote Judge Mark H. Epstein. “And on the merits of the motion, good cause is shown.”
Grande’s attorneys argued in their ex parte application for expedited discovery that by being unable to name the defendants, the “hacking, theft, dissemination, sales, and publication” of the artist’s creative properties will continue. Further, they assert that the matter is time-sensitive, as there is an “increased risk that additional content will be stolen or sold and that the account, subscriber, and login data needed to identify Defendants will be lost.”
The “7 Rings” singer initially filed her lawsuit on July 27 against at least two John Does who allegedly hacked “various personal digital accounts of photographers and producers who have worked closely” with her. As a result, “unlawful and egregious theft, dissemination, and exploitation of unreleased content” has occurred in a major way.
Her filing claims that the hackers profited from the stolen content after they sold “personal data and content on the dark web for significant sums of money,” including unreleased songs, photos, videos, and audio recordings from recording sessions that were “not intended for public consumption.”
The complaint states, “In 2023 alone, 45 unreleased songs belonging to Ms. Grande were hacked, stolen, and leaked by Defendants. Since her music debut in 2011, hundreds of similar leaks have taken place.”
The initial filing says the most recent leak occurred in 2024, when a phishing attempt targeted a technician employed by a photographer who worked with Grande. The hackers impersonated the photographer using a fake email address and website information and convinced the technician to send Grande’s material to them. The leaked tracks included “Fantasize,” “That Bitch is Mine,” and “White Tee.”
A source close to Grande noted that the singer is taking legal action specifically to uncover the identities of the hackers, intending to “serve as a deterrent against future acts of this nature—not only targeting Ariana, but also the many artists who have faced similar invasions of their privacy and theft of their creative work.”