A Britney Spears death hoax made the internet rounds Monday after a tweet from Sony Music's hacked account claimed the singer had died.
“RIP @britneyspears #RIPBritney 1981-2016,” one of the now-deleted tweets read, according to USA Today.
“Britney spears is dead by accident! We will tell you more soon #RIPBritney," another post said.
A tweet posted to Bob Dylan's official Twitter account soon followed: “Rest in peace @britneyspears." It was later confirmed that Sony Music manages the singer's account, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
A Spears representative quickly put the kibosh on the death rumors.
“I assume their account has been hacked,” Spears’ manager, Adam Leber, told CNN. “I haven’t spoken to anyone . . . as of yet but I am certain their account was hacked. Britney is fine and well. There have been a few internet clowns over the years who have made similar claims about her death, but never from the official Sony Music Twitter account.”
Sony confirmed Monday afternoon that its account had been “compromised,” USA Today noted.
“This has been rectified,” the company said in a statement. “Sony Music apologizes to Britney Spears and her fans for any confusion.”
Mirror Online, a media outlet in the United Kingdom, was quick to report on the false death claims in a published article that read, “Britney Spears is dead, according to Sony Music,” CNN noted.
A line at the bottom of the story first read, “It does seem the Sony Twitter account has been hacked," before the story was updated to reflect the hoax news.
The false tweets from Sony’s account may be connected to OurMine, a group that claims its goal it simply to point out cyber insecurity. The group recently hacked into the Twitter accounts of NFL Networks, Marvel, and Netflix, CBS News reported.
Indeed, one of the Sony Music tweets was hashtagged #OurMine. The group would not take responsibility for the initial Spears death hoax tweet but did acknowledge that it infiltrated Sony's account after the fact, according to CBS.
This hoax comes just a couple years after a 2014 Sony hacking incident in which a cyberattack ended in a “widespread release of sensitive company information,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
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