Music lovers were in for a shock, April 10 when YouTube's most watched video, Despacito, was nowhere to be found online. Turns out, the groovy song was "deleted" from the video sharing platform by a group of hackers.
The hit video, which has surpassed five billion views on YouTube, was attacked by hackers who call themselves Prosox and Kuroi'sh. The image of the link redirecting to the Luis Fonsi feat Daddy Yankee hit song was temporarily replaced with a picture of a group of hooded, masked individuals pointing guns at the camera, CTV reported.
Following the hack, the group took to Twitter to brag about the attack on Google's popular video-sharing platform. "Its just for fun i just use script 'youtube-change-title-video' and i write "hacked" don't judge me i love youtube <3," wrote a user called Prosox.
Apart from replacing the photo, the team rewrote the text on the video with their own messages, which included a call to "free Palestine" alongside their nicknames.
@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
"After seeing unusual upload activity on a handful of Vevo channels, we worked quickly with our partner to disable access while they investigate the issue," a YouTube spokeswoman told BBC.
The popular video was not the only upload attacked by the hackers. Apart from Fonsi's video, the hackers attacked videos shared by Vero of artist including Selena Gomez, Shakira, Taylor Swift and Drake.
Vevo told The Independent, "Vevo can confirm that a number of videos in its catalog were subject to a security breach today, which has now been contained. We are working to reinstate all videos affected and our catalog to be restored to full working order."
The deleted video is back on the video platform with the same number of views as it was before it was deleted. Despacito reached the remarkable 5 billion landmark just last week. It made history by becoming the first YouTube video to reach 5 billion views.
The Spanish-language hit "Despacito" was released in January 2017 and is still popular on various music platforms.
