Britney Spears Not Dead: Sony Formally Apologizes For Singer's Death Hoax Tweets [VIDEO]
This year has featured some rather shocking deaths that included some of the most popular icons and celebrities in the past decades. However, in what seems to be a rather malicious hoax, hackers had hijacked several official Twitter accounts and spread rumors about the death of yet another celebrity, this time the iconic pop star, Britney Spears.
According to a report from Reuters, Sony has finally released a statement to formally apologize to the pop star for the tweets that were posted on their official Twitter accounts. The Tweets which apparently announced the alleged death of Britney Spears have long been removed and Sony explained that their accounts were compromised, but they have since then rectified the problem.
Apart from Sony's Twitter account, Bob Dylan's official Twitter account was also hacked and was used to tweet the same basic message, "Rest in Peace @britneyspears." The post was made around the same time as the fake tweets from Sony.
The 35-year old pop star did not directly react to the tweets, but her managers were quick to inform the media that the singer was fine and well. After the slew of tweets were posted, a group called OurMine, then claimed responsibility for breaching Sony Music's accounts. The group however did not specifically mention whether they were responsible for the fake tweets.
According to the BBC, The group has also been revealed to be responsible for several other hacked Twitter accounts, including the official accounts for Netflix US and Marvel Entertainment. The group is also linked to hacks made on the Twitter accounts of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
The entire situation is still considered to be mildly embarrassing for Sony Music and fortunately does not have the same repercussions as the cyber breach it had suffered back in 2014. This year's hack only resulted in a few fake Tweets, but the big 2014 hack had resulted in leaked scripts, private emails, and corporate finances being released online.
