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'Despacito' Has Been Hacked And Removed From YouTube After Hitting Five Billion Views

'Despacito' Has Been Hacked And Removed From YouTube After Hitting Five Billion Views

After it was announced that it was the first YouTube video to make it to five billion views, has been taken down from the site after a hack

Mike Wood

Mike Wood

'Despacito' is one of the most irritating songs of recent years, and as is always the way with the most irritating songs, it went viral around the world and became the most-watched YouTube video of all time.

'Despacitio', in the week, that it was announced that it was the first YouTube video to make it to five billion views, has been taken down from the site after an apparent hack.

Instead of playing the video, a still appears that shows five masked figures pointing guns at the camera, which (and I have to say I've only seen it once) isn't a bit from the 'Despacito' video.

YouTube/Netflix

When one presses the play button, it says that the video is unavailable. Of course, why anyone would want to press the play button is perhaps the larger question.

Daddy Yankee isn't the only artist to have been affected by the hack. Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Drake and Shakira have all had content made unavailable. The hack has been claimed by Prosox and Kuroi'sh, two hackers who posted "Free Palestine" below the still on the videos that they hacked.

The BBC reports that the hackers themselves posted on Twitter saying: "It's just for fun, I just use [the script] 'youtube-change-title-video' and I write 'hacked'. Don't judge me I love YouTube."

'Despacito' was announced as the most watched video on YouTube and the first to pass 5 billion views just yesterday, only for the hack to strike.

It is also the most streamed song ever, with 4.6 billon plays on Spotify and other streaming services. It is miles ahead of the next challenge, Wiz Khalifa's 'See You Again', which has just under 3.5 billion views on YouTube.

The song has been cited as marking the return of Latin pop to the mainstream, with other more established stars such as Enrique Iglesias also scoring hits.

"Contrary to the past, music today has no boundaries," said Iglesias on the renaissance of Latin pop. "With the continual growth of music streaming, it's exciting to see that fans from all over the world are embracing Latin music and culture."

Featured Image Credit: Vevo

Topics: Hack, Music, US Entertainment, YouTube