MTV Video Music Awards 2016 - Arrivals - New York Britney Spears Doug Peters / EMPICS Entertainment Doug Peters / EMPICS Entertainment / EMPICS Entertainment

AN OFFICIAL SONY Music Twitter account claimed that popstar Britney Spears was dead in what is suspected to have been a hack attack.

Spears has not passed away, CNN confirmed.

Sony Music Global posted the following tweets earlier today:

Screen Shot 2016-12-26 at 13.49.52

Screen Shot 2016-12-26 at 13.49.19

The tweets have since been deleted.

In addition, the official Bob Dylan Twitter account also tweeted similar tweets:

Screen Shot 2016-12-26 at 13.50.34

TMZ claims the ‘hack’ was the work of the OurMine group, which also claimed to have hacked a Netflix Twitter account earlier this month.

It has also previously hacked the accounts of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.

Sony has not commented on the incident.

Britney Spears is alive and well, her rep tells CNN. It appears @SonyMusicGlobal erroneously tweeted her death. Sony rep says no comment
— AnneClaire Stapleton (@AnneClaireCNN) December 26, 2016

AnneClaire Stapleton / Twitter

Read: ‘He was so loved’: Tributes flow as pop superstar George Michael dies aged 53>

Making a difference

A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can make sure we can keep reliable, meaningful news open to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.

Support us Learn More