Sony Music Entertainment’s Twitter account was hacked on Monday, publishing fake statements that pop music icon Britney Spears had died.
Sony Music, a unit of Sony Corp., said in a short statement that its social media account was “compromised” but that the situation “has been rectified.” The company said it “apologises to Britney Spears and her fans for any confusion.”
A Sony spokesperson refused to comment further while their Twitter representative did not return emails seeking comment.
The 35-year-old international superstar and Grammy Award winner is “is fine and well,” Spears’ manager Adam Leber told CNN.
The fake tweets have since been removed. In some tweets, the group OurMine took responsibility, Billboard reported.
The Twitter account of folk music icon Bob Dylan may also have been subjected to a hoax, Billboard reported, when it sent out a now-deleted tweet.
The Sony spokesperson confirmed that Bob Dylan is also a Sony artist and that the company’s statement “holds true for what’s happened.”
Another unit of Sony, Sony Pictures Entertainment, was the victim of a devastating cyber attack in November 2014, which the Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded was the work of North Korea.
That hack came a month before Sony Pictures was due to release the film “The Interview,” about two journalists recruited by the CIA to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
