Selena Gomez’s Instagram was deactivated Monday morning after nude photos of her ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber were posted to the account.
The photos were the same images published after Bieber’s 2015 Bora Bora trip, according to multiple users who screen-grabbed the posts, and appears to be the work of a hacker.
Gomez was previously the most-followed user on Instagram, second only to the official Instagram account with 125 million followers, according to a March 2017 ranking by Socialblade.
The hackers, whose online identities were linked back to three troll accounts with no hard information to go on, seemed to take pleasure in the fact that Bieber nudes were being shared, referring to the singer as “lil shrimpy.” The reaction from fans and other bystanders online was one of shock, disgust and, more than once, laughter.
The hip-hop world has become somewhat of a magnet for Instagram hackers, who’ve been hitting some of the industry’s biggest names over the course of this past summer. Rappers like J. Cole, Tyler, The Creator and others were all victims of poached social media accounts, with the level of intensity varying on a case-by-case basis, in terms of the severity of the hack. No lasting damage was made in any of these cases, including Selena’s, but one has to wonder why this kind of activity is becoming the norm where music celebrities, especially of the hip-hop variety, are concerned. At the time of this writing, neither Gomez or Bieber had responded to the hack or the image that it chose to publish. Only time will tell if hackers will attempt to get after the pop princess’ Instagram account again, but for the time being, she appears to be safe once again.
