Taylor Swift mysteriously wipes social media accounts as internet scrambles for answer
Taylor Swift has mysteriously disappeared from the internet, leaving fans scrambling for an answer with various theories suggesting the singer is about to drop an album, has been hacked, or is having a digital detox.
Taylor Swift's Twitter account has been wiped
Fans noticed on Friday morning that all posts from the singer’s Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr accounts had been deleted, while her website had been taken down.
The singer has 95.4 million followers on Twitter, 102 million Instagram followers and 838,458 followers on Facebook. On Friday (18 August) those accounts were wiped completely clean, showing no picture, bio information or posts. She has also unfollowed everyone.
Some fans have suggested the internet blackout is part of a publicity stunt as the singer prepares to release a new album. The last time she released an album was 2014, and the singer is known for building anticipation around an imminent launch having blacked out her website in 2012 and 2014 before announcing two albums.
A new album would be Taylor Swift's sixth, after 1989, Red, Speak Now, Fearless and her self-titled debut back in 2006.
Others have suggested the singer has fallen victim to a wide-ranging hack. Notable figures, including social media icons Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey, and Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, have all had their accounts compromised in the past year by a hacking group called OurMine which exposes holes in security systems.
Alternatively, the singer could be taking a break from social media. It’s not unheard of in the celebrity world, Ed Sheeran, Justin Bieber and Kanye West are among the singers that have temporarily taken a break from social media.
Swift recently won a sexual assault case against ex-radio DJ David Mueller in the US.
Update: Taylor Swift broke the social media silence at approximately 4pm GMT on Monday (21 August) when she posted a mysterious video of a snake on her social media accounts.
Fans have suggested the video could be a reference to the singer's post break-up dispute with Calvin Harris, as well as the controversy stemming from her reaction to the lyrics of Kanye West’s 2016 rap single “Famous”, which saw the singer get spammed by snake emojis.