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Influencers Blame AT&T for Social Media Account Hacks

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3 months ago

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  • James Charles, Shane Dawson, Etika, King Bach, and Amanda Cerny were all targets of social media hacks on either their Instagram or Twitter accounts.
  • The hacker posted several racist and homophobic comments from their pages, threatened to expose nude photos, and made claims regarding past controversies.
  • Several of the stars blamed AT&T for the hacks, saying they are a result of the hacker switching SIM-card data.

Influencers Blame AT&T for the Hack

Several social media stars are blaming AT&T for a series of account breaches that seemingly involved the same hacker.

James Charles, Shane Dawson, Etika, Amanda Cerny, and King Bach were all victims of hacks on Twitter and Instagram over a three-day-long period.

“My ATT phone number was compromised earlier today and all of my social media accounts were therefore hacked too!” Beauty YouTuber James Charles wrote on Twitter Saturday. “Your fraud department just HUNG UP ON ME. Contact me immediately. This is a major security threat & my lawyer will be reaching out too.”

Influencer Amanda Cerny also criticized the phone provider, saying this isn’t the first time she’s fallen victim to an attack while paying for AT&T’s service.

“Second time My phone number was hacked because of human error within company at @ATT?!” she said “I have all possible steps of verification added after the first time again and my account was still compromised… time to switch carriers. Be careful out there everyone.”

“All the text messages went to his phone,” Internet comedian King Bach said in a video. “He could see everything I was typing in my phone, so when I changed my password, he saw what the fuck I changed it to. The store is closed. The customer service is trash. I was on the phone for hours just trying to figure this shit out and I couldn’t get no help, so bottom-line: you’re trash. T-mobile, holla at me. Sprint, holla at me. Verizon, holla at me.”

The three social media stars claim the hacker likely SIM-swapped their accounts, meaning the hacker would have had to call AT&T pretending to be one of the influencers.

Once they managed to convince AT&T they were the account owners, they could have requested that the carrier switch the phone number to a different SIM card that they owned. To do this, the hacker would have likely needed the influencers’ phone numbers beforehand. 

AT&T has yet to comment on the situation, though the telecommunications giant currently faces a legal battle over a separate SIM-swapping incident.

History of the Hacks

Cerny and King Bach were the first to experience the hacks on Thursday. Both influencers’ Instagram accounts fell victim to the attack, and King Bach’s Twitter was also compromised. 

Both accounts linked back to a Discord page apparently started by the hacker. The hacker also leaked several direct messages between King Bach and Justin Bieber.

Both King Bach and Cerny managed to reclaim their accounts soon after.

Another hack occurred Friday on YouTuber Shane Dawson’s Twitter account. This time, the hacker posted a series of offense messages, which included racist and homophobic language.

In one post, the hacker hearkened back to World War II, claiming Nazi Germany deserved to win World War II a tweet that also included the n-word.

Source: @shanedawson

The hacker also used homophobic slurs against James Charles and made unsubstantiated claims of having “intel on Jake Paul raping underage girls.”

Source: @shanedawson

The hacker also alluded to a controversy involving past comments Dawson made about having sexual relations with his cat on a podcast – comments which Dawson has repeatedly apologized for.

The hacker claimed to be a rich bitcoin hacker. They also claimed they were handing out Dawson’s password, linking back to the Discord page posted on Cerny and King Bach’s accounts.

Shortly after the hack began, Dawson or his team regained control of his account and deleted the offensive messages. 

On Saturday, the hacker then gained control of Etika’s Twitter, an influencer who died by suicide in June.

While taking over Etika’s Twitter, the hacker alluded to the YouTuber’s death by making such comments as “I’m back alive! Currently chuckling with the boys” and “I’m currently drowning.”

On the same day, James Charles’ Twitter was also hacked. During the breach, the hacker continued to post offensive and racist comments and also threatened to expose Charles’ nude photos.

The beauty influencer later regained control of his account, with the hacker’s Twitter account has since being suspended.

James Charles Posts Nude Photo

The beauty guru then combatted the revenge-porn threats by posting his own nude photo.

“hi I got my account back,” he wrote. “Just case I ever get hacked again, here’s the ONLY nude I’ve ever taken! can’t threaten me with it now get a life.”

Following the move, many people criticized him for posting the photo. One person commented, “literally no one asked for this.”

“yeah well i didn’t ask to have my security and privacy threatened either,” the YouTuber replied, “so this is me taking back ownership of the situation, move on with your day.” 

As the tweet slid into the realm of online memes, others seemingly made fun of the situation by posting their own nude photos using the same caption, including Ethan Klein of h3h3 Productions and podcaster Adam Grandmaison.

Many others still criticized the original post, calling it unnecessary.

Many others attempted to cover up his backside with other images.

At the same time, several others came to James Charles’ defense, drawing parallels to recent hacks involving Bella Thorne and Whitney Cummings, both of whom were applauded for leaking their own nude photos after being hacked.

See what others are saying: (People) (Daily Dot) (Dexerto)

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YouTube Family Vlogger Petitions FTC Ahead of 2020 COPPA Enforcement

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2 weeks ago

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November 7, 2019

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  • YouTube will soon remove personalized ads from children’s content after the Federal Trade Commission determined that it had violated children’s privacy laws by placing targeted ads over kids’ content.
  • Following YouTube’s announcement, creators like Jeremy Johnston of J House Vlogs are now bringing their concerns directly before the Federal Trade Commission during their open window, which closes Dec. 9.
  • Among other concerns, creators are asking the FTC to provide a better definition of “child-directed” content out of fear that they may still lose ads on video that may be deemed “attractive,” but not necessarily directed at children.

YouTubers Lobby FTC

Children’s content creators and family bloggers on YouTube are lobbying against upcoming changes to an online child privacy law, which they say will affect the quality of their videos and how those videos make money.

As of Thursday afternoon, a Change.org petition arguing against the changes has attracted more than 38,000 signatures. The petition was started by Jeremy Johnston who, along with his wife Kendra, run the family vlogging channel J House Vlogs.

In September, YouTube announced that it would be changing the way it displays ads on children’s content. The changes are meant to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act after the Federal Trade Commission and New York Attorney General Letitia James accused YouTube of illegally collecting personal information from children to show them targeted ads.

Regarding ads, YouTube uses two types: general and personalized ads. General ads appear regardless of a user’s viewing history, but personalized ads look at a user’s viewing history to present products or services a user may be more interested in. 

Because of the changes to COPPA, YouTube said it will remove all personalized ads on children’s content in January. The FTC also said it would hear public comments until Oct. 23 before enforcing new COPPA guidelines.

As a result, Johnston has lobbied the Federal Trade Commission in an attempt to add exceptions to children’s content creators. 

Johnston Speaks with Rogue Rocket

In an interview with Rogue Rocket, Johnston said he filed a request to extend the FTC’s public comments period until Dec. 9, which was later approved.

Johnston told Rogue Rocket he made the filing after meeting with the FTC. During the meeting, he said the commission was unaware that personalized and general ads paid different amounts to creators. 

While Johnston said he thought the FTC was legitimately trying to do what’s best for children, he also said FTC was largely unaware of creators’ concerns beforehand. 

Regarding his own channel, Johnston said he and his wife have already decided to pull the plug on a planned children’s channel called J House Jr.

While he said big creators can find other ways to generate money, through brand deals or other projects, he also said losing personalized ads can be devastating for channels.

“That isn’t going to be available for the small creators in the future, and that’s a big reason why I’m speaking out,” he told Rogue Rocket. “I wouldn’t be doing all of this if it was just about my channel. But I’m considering other people like me or other people five years, 10 years from now who want to get going. I’m so grateful that when I took that leap of faith to say ‘I’m going to do YouTube full-time’ that ad revenue made that possible.”  

Although Johnston said he understands the need for parents to have control in their kids’ privacy online, he said the new changes won’t do that. 

“We care about children’s privacy,” he said. “We are just saying that this regulation is going to do more harm than good. I think it’s really important that we all recognize that the majority of parents are letting their children watch YouTube main.”  

“We’re wanting parents to continue making that choice with the government coming in and overriding the parents’ decision,” he continued. “If parents were really concerned with personalized ads, it raises the question, why are they all letting their children watch YouTube main?” 

What’s in the Petition?

Specifically, the creators and supporters who’ve signed that petition are asking the FTC to provide a statement on how COPPA will be enforced against creators, as well as clarify the definition of “child-directed” content. 

One major concern for creators is the specific use of the language “child-directed.” Currently, the FTC is debating whether or not to add “child-attractive” content, ie. content that is marketed to a general audience but could still be considered friendly for children to watch. 

The petition also requests that the FTC delay enforcement any changes until it finishes reviewing COPPA.

It ends by asking the FTC to encourage parents to use apps like YouTube Kids instead of forcing creators to turn off personalized ads.

According to Bloomberg, YouTube Kids currently only attracts about 1% of YouTube’s total audience even though kids’ content is the most-viewed on YouTube.

Why Is This Important to Viewers?

While some viewers find ads annoying, many creators make money by placing ads in front of their videos.

According to Tubefilter, general ads can bring in anywhere from 60 to 90% less than personalized ads. Creators fear that the loss of revenue could, in turn, hurt the quality of their videos. 

In fact, Johnston says a lot of the money made from J House Vlogs videos goes back into making quality content on the channel.

In addition to that, creators also worry their content could be fined for violating COPPA, with that fine being up to $42,530. Creators like Johnston and Derral Eves say that these concerns could also result in more mature content on YouTube. 

See what others are saying: (Bloomberg) (Tubefilter)

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Shane Dawson Accused of Using Tati Westbrook and James Charles Drama as Clickbait Amid Success of Massive Beauty Launch

Published

2 weeks ago

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November 4, 2019

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  • Shane Dawson’s collaboration with Jeffree Star officially launched online and in stores Friday.
  • Fans crashed the website within seconds and stood in line for hours to get their hands on the products, which have since completely sold out. 
  • Amid all the craze surrounding the launch, Dawson is also facing criticism from viewers who say he used the Tati Westbrook- James Charles drama for clickbait in the trailer since it has yet to be mentioned in the series.

Shane Dawson Beauty Launch 

Shane Dawson and Jeffree Stars’ highly anticipated makeup and merchandise collaboration finally launched Friday and quickly took over the internet, meanwhile, fans are still wondering if YouTube beauty drama will be included in upcoming episodes of his series. 

The YouTubers released two eyeshadow palettes, a collection of liquid lipsticks, a line of merchandise, and more. But fans had completely overwhelmed the website before the company behind it, Shopify, could even finish listing each item for sale. 

Minutes after the scheduled launch time, Star tweeted that the site had crashed, adding “Shane’s in a ball crying on the floor.” 

Issues persisted for hours, with many users complaining about the site crashing, error messages, missing confirmation emails, and other problems.

Those who chose to purchase the palette at their local Morphe stores also had to wait in huge lines to get their hands on any of the products. 

As many people expected, the Conspiracy palette was completely sold out by the middle of the day, with the rest of the line selling out shortly after.

Although we don’t know the exact figures just yet, it seems the launch has already broken records according to Jeffree Star, who said the statistics will be released in the coming days. 

Fans Accuse Shane of Clickbait 

The build-up for the release was of course set up by each installment of Dawson’s docu-series, “The Beautiful World of Jeffree Star.” Of the six parts that have been released so far, the lowest viewed episode sits at over 14 million views, while all of the episodes combined make up over 110 million views. 

Despite the success of the episodes so far, some fans are upset that Dawson has not included any footage from the infamous Tati Westbrook and James Charles drama. 

As you might remember, massive beauty influencer James Charles lost nearly 3 million subscribers in May after his former mentor Tati Westbrook posted her infamous “Bye Sister” video, publicly announcing the end of their friendship. One stand out moment in the video involved her claim that Charles uses his celebrity status to sexually manipulate straight men. 

Star and Dawson both publicly expressed their support for Westbrook during the whole ordeal, with Star even going so far as to call Charles a predator.  After apologies and explanations from Charles, Star, and Westbrook, the drama eventually blew over and Charles’ subscriber count bounced back.

Fans were hoping to see more about Star and Dawson’s involvement and opinions on the situation in his series and it seemed like they were going to get exactly that. In his trailer for the docu-series, Dawson included footage of him reacting to Westbrook’s initial video and Charles’ subscriber loss.

As of now, the series has seemed to move in chronological order without any mention of the drama, which has left some fans feeling disappointed. Some have even accused Dawson of using the incident as clickbait for views.

Some suggested that Dawson excluded the drama out of respect for those involved, especially since Westbrook and Charles both recently released products last month. Others said it would be harmful to bring it all back up again after everyone has seemingly moved past it. 

Fans also said it was likely a decision to focus on the business aspect of the beauty industry rather than the drama. They specifically pointed to a poll Dawson posted early on in the series asking viewers what they wanted to see more of, though viewers seem to be split on what the results actually were. Meanwhile, others pointed out that there are still more episodes set to come.

See what others are saying: (Business Insider) (PopBuzz)(Mashable)

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YouTuber Jaclyn Hill Defends “Canceled” Halloween Costume

Published

3 weeks ago

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October 29, 2019

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  • Critics are slamming beauty YouTuber Jaclyn Hill for appearing at her Haloween party this weekend as a “canceled” version of herself. 
  • Some thought she was making light of her recent lipstick scandal and mocking customers who were upset with her over the failed product launch. 
  • Hill addressed the backlash, saying the costume was not about her customers or her lipsticks but instead was a comment about the community and cancel culture.

Jaclyn HIll’s Costume 

Beauty YouTuber Jaclyn Hill has responded to backlash over her Halloween costume – a “canceled” version of herself. 

Hill hosted a party at her temporary home in Los Angeles, California Saturday night, which was packed with dozens of her friends and fellow YouTubers like James Charles and Nikita Dragun. 

But the main talk of the party online was Hill’s costume. The beauty guru wore a black dress with red letters that spelled out “SHE’S CANCELED” and “JACLYN HILL IS CANCELED.” She also sported some fake wounds and blood to add to the Halloween look.

Many found this costume to be a risky choice considering the recent scandal surrounding her lipstick line launch this past June. Customers complained of lumpy lipsticks embedded with hairs or what they thought might have been shards of plastic. Others believed that she might have been selling old lipsticks that were moldy and unsafe to use.

Hill later denied those claims and apologized to her customers. She gave explanations for defective products, like cotton gloves used in production causing the hairs and high temperatures during shipping affecting consistency. The whole ordeal came to an end when she issued refunds, though she never recalled the product as many had asked and promised they were still safe to use. 

She wasn’t the only one who was inspired by the lipstick controversy. Drama YouTuber Sebastian Williams even appeared at the event wearing “Jaclyn Hill’s harry lipsticks as horns.”

Mixed Reactions 

A lot of social media users saw Hill’s costume as a funny way to own her controversy and poke fun at herself. 

Others, however, took issue with her making light of the situation. Some called it tacky, while others argued that it was disrespectful towards customers who had been let down by her lipstick launch. 

Jaclyn Hill Defends Costume

After seeing some of the backlash, Hill took to Twitter to explain that her costume wasn’t aimed at her customers. 

“This costume has NOTHING to do with my fans or customers,” she tweeted. “It has to do with ‘cancel culture’ that has become so popular. I adore my subscribers & they know that!”

She made a similar statement in another post saying, “A lot of people are missing the point. This has nothing to do with my lipsticks. That’s a whole different situation. This costume was supposed to be about the community. About Influencers & cancel culture. But people can read into it however they want obviously.” 

In an Instagram post, she wrote a more detailed caption about the intentions behind her costume, saying, “Over the last several years the internet has become more & more cruel & has developed what we now call “cancel culture” not one day has gone by in over 2 years where I have not seen ‘you’re canceled’ online.”

“I wanted to create a look showing the glam side of this industry & the ugly,” she added. “So here is it. You want me canceled? You got it baby. And I know my “haters” are going to HATE this costume. But that’s okay, I love you anyway.”

Hill also address a less serious element of the costume that critics seemed to also take issue with: spelling. One tweet went viral, slamming the beauty guru for using one “L” instead of two on her costume. 

She responded to that with a Google search of the proper way to spell the term, which notes that both are correct, but one “L” is more favored by Americans while two are more commonly used in British English.  

In response to the viral tweet, she wrote “OMGGGG! Over 100k favorites??!! Does this mean im famous!!? I love my illiterate ass.” Then in a reply to fan defending her, she wrote “I have to laugh at all these tweets about my ‘misspelling’ people will find anything!! Even when google & the dictionary proves it correct, they still gotta reach.” 

See what others are saying: (E! News) (PopBuzz) (Insider)

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