Drake, Taylor Swift, and ‘Despacito’ videos deleted in VEVO hack

PHOTO: IMDB.com

Luis Fonsi’s record-breaking video for “Despacito” was temporarily deleted from YouTube after a small number of high profile Vevo accounts were hacked.

The video for the Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee track, which has been viewed more than 5 billion times on YouTube and became the site’s most-watched video last year, was one of many titles compromised by hackers targeting clips from music video platform Vevo.

Hackers going by Prosox and Kuroi’sh claimed responsibility for the breach on Twitter. The hackers replaced the “Despacito” cover image on YouTube with a photo of people wearing masks and pointing guns at the camera, according to a screenshot taken by the BBC, and sprinkled their own names, nicknames and messages — including “Free Palestine” — across videos from artists including Taylor Swift, Drake, Shakira, and Selena Gomez.

A still on the video showed several masked figures aiming guns at the camera, which is not a scene from the “Despacito” video. When fans attempt to press play, it said the video was unavailable. The video has since been reinstated and has the same number of views as before.

BBC reports that a Twitter account appearing to belong to one of the hackers posted: “It’s just for fun. I just use [the script] ‘youtube-change-title-video’ and I write ‘hacked’.

“Don’t judge me, I love YouTube,” it added.

Vevo previously experienced a breach in September 2017 when some of its files were stolen and leaked online.