Netflix and Hulu are down in some locations, reportedly hacked by people protesting LGBTQ+ content.
The group called Anonymous Sudan claimed responsibility for the breach on its Telegram channel, specifically citing Netflix's LGBTQ+ content for the reasoning.
It claimed it brought Netflix down for 30 minutes in some locations and planned another hacking attempt at 1 a.m. Khartoum time (7 p.m. ET).
"Reason for the attack: Due to the content of their movies. 'LGBTQIA+,'" the group wrote.
Newsweek reached out to Anonymous Sudan and Netflix for comment.
According to CheckHost, Netflix suffered outages in some parts of the U.S, Turkey, Russia, Poland, U.K., U.A.E, Brazil, Hong Kong, Japan and other countries in Europe.
Anonymous Sudan has previously taken credit for hacking and causing widespread outages on X, formerly Twitter.
The group first appeared in January 2022 and was thought to be associated with infamous "hacktivist" group, Anonymous.
But research by cybersecurity company TrueSec alleged it was actually run by a group of Russian hackers as part of an "information operation to harm and complicate Sweden's NATO application."
TrueSec argued the Russian hackers appropriated the original Anonymous Sudan, which was formed in response to the African country's political and economic unrest. The original Anonymous Sudan participated in digital activism, such as hacking and causing outages on government websites.
TrueSec's research highlighted indications that the new Anonymous Sudan was likely not the same group operating in Africa, including different styles of communication. The new group mainly announces its operations on Telegram, a messaging platform popular with Russian hackers. Also, it posts in English and Russian, never in Arabic and is amplified by Russian hacktivists groups.
The new Anonymous Sudan Telegram account's location is listed as Russia.
TrueSec hypothesized the motive for the group's attacks "could be to internally strengthen the narrative that Russia is not isolated and create the illusion that there are online activists all over the world supporting Russia."
Newsweek hascontacted TrueSec for comment.
"i was in the middle of a good binge and then netflix goes down. wonderful," wrote one person on X of the consequences of the cyber attack.
Another said: "is anyone else's netflix down?! i'm just trying to finish season 4 of sex education!!!!"
And a third wrote: "not all of us getting kicked off netflix minutes before some big event, decision, or twist was going down in whatever show we were watching atm #netflixdown."
Update 9/29/2023, 3:50 a.m ET. This story has been updated to include additional information about Anonymous Sudan and X posts of Netflix users reporting outages.
