YouTube Hack Replaces “Despacito” And Other Hit Videos With Image Of Masked Gunmen
The most-viewed YouTube video of all time, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito,” fell victim to hackers today. YouTube pulled the video down after discovering that it was tampered with. The thumbnail was replaced by an image of a masked gang from the Netflix show Casa De Papel. (You can check out the thumbnail here.) The hackers signed their names “Prosox and Kuroi’sh” in the video description fields and wrote “Free Palestine” in some of the captions, according to the BBC.
“Despacito” wasn’t the only video that was defaced. Shakira and Maluma’s “Chantaje” was altered, as were videos from Chris Brown, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Drake, Katy Perry, and DJ Snake. All of the defective videos were featured on Vevo accounts, and Google has yet to comment on whether or not individual artist accounts were hacked or if the hack came from within Vevo.
One of the hackers tweeted that “its just for fun” early this morning:
@YouTube Its just for fun i just use script "youtube-change-title-video" and i write "hacked" don t judge me i love youtube <3
— Prosox (@ProsoxW3b) April 10, 2018