Media and Major News Coverage
In 2014, a large-scale breach exposed private images of numerous celebrities. Jennifer Lawrence, Miley Cyrus, Kate Upton, Kaley Cuoco, and Kim Kardashian were among those affected. The incident trended globally across social media platforms within hours. Stars including Demi Lovato were among over 500 celebrity actresses whose private material was circulated without consent. Several perpetrators were later prosecuted under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
The Origins of the Term
In 2014, a large-scale iCloud security breach exposed private images of dozens of celebrities without their consent. The incident became one of the most widely covered privacy scandals in internet history. Stars like Sydney Sweeney and Gal Gadot became frequent subjects of public conversation around celebrity privacy in the years that followed.