YouTube’s most-viewed video ever disappeared from the platform Tuesday after hackers compromised the accounts of some of the world’s most famous singers.
The video for Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito,” which recently racked up a record five billion views, was unavailable for a brief period. An accompanying message said the account holder had deleted the video.
A pair of hackers calling themselves Prosox and Kuroi’sh claimed credit for killing the video, and boasted of attacks on a number of other high profile accounts, including Adele and Shakira.
The thumbnail image of “Despacito” was replaced with a scene from the Netflix show “Casa de Papel,” showing a gang of masked thieves with guns.
NEW: ⚡ Vevo's @YouTube account hacked; attacker just changed the title and thumbnail of #Despacito Song, the most-viewed YouTube video with over 5 billion views.
Kuroi'SH is the same hacker who hacked @nowthisnews and @bbcarabicalerts Twitter accounts last week. pic.twitter.com/gKeLoJGUVm
— The Hacker News (@TheHackersNews) April 10, 2018
Though the videos are posted on YouTube, all of them were uploaded by Vevo, a rival video sharing site created by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group that focuses specifically on music.
Kuroi’sh also appeared to suggest he had compromised the account of YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, and threatened to take down the accounts of prominent YouTube stars Jake and Logan Paul.
