Ariana Grande filed a lawsuit in a Los Angeles court on Monday, July 27, against two unidentified hackers who she says stole and leaked unreleased music, photos, and video footage from her over more than a decade.

The suit, filed by Grande's attorneys, names the defendants as anonymous "John Does" and seeks court-ordered subpoenas to internet service providers to identify them, according to Billboard. The legal claims are invasion of privacy, violation of California computer hacking laws, and conversion — the legal term for wrongfully taking someone's property for one's own use.

The scale of the alleged theft is striking. The lawsuit states that Grande has experienced hundreds of unauthorised leaks of music and content since 2011. In 2023 alone, 45 of her songs were stolen and leaked. The filing also references a 2019 theft of unreleased masters, demos, and footage, and describes two phishing attacks in 2024 that resulted in the theft of unreleased photos.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the hackers allegedly infiltrated devices belonging to people in Grande's inner circle. TMZ reported that they accessed the digital accounts of photographers and producers working with her. The lawsuit alleges the stolen content was then sold on the dark web for significant sums.

Grande has spoken publicly about leaks before. When unreleased songs surfaced on TikTok in February 2024, she told an audience, "I'll see you in jail, literally," as reported by Mid Michigan Now.

Her legal team framed the harm in direct terms. As Billboard reported, Grande's attorneys stated that the hackers violated "the sacred relationship that exists between her and her fans."

For artists, an unreleased track is not a finished product — it is a working draft, often without final mixes, cleared samples, or the sequencing and artwork that frame a finished release. When a song leaks, the artist loses control of how and when their work reaches the public. The economics matter too: a leaked track can cannibalise a planned single, disrupt an album rollout, and complicate publishing splits before the music has been properly registered or cleared.

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal actions by major artists targeting unauthorised leaks. What sets this filing apart is its breadth — spanning 15 years, multiple methods of intrusion, and a claim of commercial sale on the dark web. Whether the subpoenas succeed in unmasking the defendants will determine whether the case moves from allegations to identified suspects.