[Work in progress. Editors needed]
Overview
The Fappening, also known as Celebgate, refers to a series of nude photographs featuring various high profile celebrities leaked on 4chan in late August 2014. Many of speculated that the images were stolen via the Apple iCloud service, which hosts photographs taken with iPhone mobile devices online.
Background
On August 26th, a user on the imageboard AnonIB[9] replied to a thread about actress Jennifer Lawrence claiming that users on the site’s /stol/ board for hacked nude photos had obtained “explicit vids and pics.” Meanwhile, a user on /stol/ announced he was “trading celebs and ripping iClouds.”
On August 31st, nude photographs of over 100 female celebrities were posted to 4chan’s /b/ (random) board, including pictures of Jennifer Lawrence, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kate Upton, Kirsten Dunst, Rihanna, Hillary Duff, Kaley Cuoco, Kim Kardashian, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Kate Bosworth and Victoria Justice.
Notable Developments
On Reddit
That day, the subreddit /r/thefappening[1] was creator by Redditor johnsmcjohn for submissions of leaked celebrity nude photos, which gathered upwards of 50,900 subscribers in the first 10 hours, becoming that day’s fastest growing subreddit according to the Reddit analytics site Reddit Metrics.[5]
#LeakForJLaw
Also on August 31st, 4chan users launched the hoax hashtag @LeakForJLaw, to encourage female Twitter users to post topless photographs of themselves in solidarity with Jennifer Lawrence under the banner of social justice.
That evening, Twitter user @Boogie2988[2] posted a topless photograph of himself accompanied by the hashtag, garnering upwards of 1,700 retweets in 15 hours.
Celebrity Reactions
On August 31st, a spokesperson for Jennifer Lawrence issued a statement to the tech news blog Mashable[4] calling the leak a “flagrant violation of privacy.”
“This is a flagrant violation of privacy. The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence.”
The same day, Mary E. Winstead posted two tweets shaming the person responsible for the hack and those who were viewing them.[6]
Meanwhile, singer-songwriter Victoria Justice posted a tweet denying that the topless photographs of her were authentic.[7]
On September 1st, gymnast McKayla Maroney posted a tweet claiming the pictures were fake along with a Buddy Christ image macro (shown below).[3]
Hacker’s Identity
Following the release of the photographs, 4chan users identified software engineer Bryan Hamade as the hacker responsible for the leak. On September 1st, The Daily Mail[8] published an interview with Hamade, who denied being involved with the leak.
Search Interest
External References
[1]Reddit – /r/thefappening (Warning: NSFW Content)
[2]Twitter – @Boogie29888
[3]Twitter – @McKayla Maroney
[4]Mashable – Jennifer Lawrence and Other Celebs Hacked as Nude Images Circulate on the Web
[5]Reddit – /r/TheFappening
[6]Twitter – @M_E_Winstead
[7]Twitter – @VictoriaJustice
[8]The Daily Mail – I am not behind this
[9]AnonIB – Anonymous Image Board