A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has cleared Ariana Grande to subpoena Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, Discord, PayPal and Cash App as she tries to identify individuals accused of hacking, stealing and selling her unreleased music. The ruling matters because Grande's lawsuit, filed on 27 July, names no actual defendants, only "John Doe" placeholders, meaning standard discovery could not begin until someone was identified and served; the judge's order allows her to seek identifying records straight away rather than waiting out normal procedural delays.

The suit alleges hackers broke into the accounts of photographers and producers who have worked with Grande, then sold the stolen material on the dark web, including 45 unreleased songs leaked in 2023 alone, with payments allegedly moving through services such as PayPal and Cash App. It brings claims of invasion of privacy, conversion and breach of California's computer data protection law, and states Grande had to re-record material and delay releases to protect her work. Judge Mark H. Epstein agreed that without the subpoenas she could never realistically identify the anonymous accounts, noting none of the platforms is accused of wrongdoing themselves. The move echoes a similar tactic used by HYBE's BigHit Music in April over leaked BTS material.