Selena Gomez's Instagram was deactivated Monday morning after nude photos of her ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber were posted to the account. The photos were the same images published after Bieber's 2015 Bora Bora trip, according to multiple users who screen-grabbed the posts and appear to be the work of a hacker. Billboard has reached out to Gomez's reps for comment.
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Gomez was previously the most-followed user on Instagram, second only to the official Instagram account with 125 million followers, according to a March 2017 ranking by Socialblade Heather knew there were adults on the Internet who preyed on kids, and she regularly warned her own four children about the dangers of talking to strangers online. Yet the 37-year-old married mom from Phoenix never thought she would ever fall victim to a growing Internet crime known as sextortion.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) classifies sextortion as a form of online blackmail where explicit images are used to extort additional photos, sexual favors, and sometimes money from victims. It can involve hacking into a victim's computer or “catfishing” — where predators lure unsuspecting victims into online relationships and coerce them into sharing nude photos or videos. A 2016 report from the Brookings Institute found that sextortion is on the rise, and noted that isn't "a matter of playful consensual sexting," but rather "a form of sexual exploitation, coercion, and violence."