If you attempted to watch the “Despacito” video on YouTube this morning, there’s a chance you briefly encountered the sinister image above. Hackers going by the monikers Prosox and Kuroi’sh were briefly able to access the service’s most popular video ever and other Vevo clips by artists like Shakira and Adele, swapping out their thumbnail images and titles. “x – hacked by prosox & kuroi’sh @OpIsrael 🙂 FreePalestine ft. Maluma,” the Shakira title read, according to screenshots posted to Twitter. The photo, spooky though it may appear, is actually just a still from the Spanish show Money Heist. (Now available on Netflix!)
According to the BBC, the videos themselves were unaltered, but “Despacito” itself was briefly taken down from YouTube entirely following the hack—though it’s unclear whether that was the doing of the hackers or of YouTube employees looking to limit the hack’s exposure while figuring out how to reverse it. As of this writing, “Despacito” is back online, though not without its scars: in search results, it is currently only displaying 58 views, but when you click through, the full 5 billion return.
” @YouTube Its just for fun i just use script “youtube-change-title-video” and i write “hacked” don t judge me i love youtube,” wrote a Twitter user claiming to be Prosox this morning. “@Vevo You have all my respect but do not leave the control to your site to any developer did not take into account this hacking it was a fun if we would like to harm your customers we would delete all the video but I did not delete despacito must believe me.”
@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
@Vevo You have all my respect but do not leave the control to your site to any developer did not take into account this hacking it was a fun if we would like to harm your customers we would delete all the video but I did not delete despacito must believe me
— Prosox (@ProsoxW3b) April 10, 2018
