Ariana Grande sued for allegedly uploading photographer's photo of herself to Instagram

Ariana Grande sued for allegedly uploading photographer's photo of herself to Instagram Mr Barbera is seeking damages of up to $25,000 (£19,000) for each picture used in her post that was liked three million times.

Image: Grande is being sued over her Instagram post

Pop star Ariana Grande is being sued for allegedly uploading a photographer's picture of herself to her Instagram account, according to legal documents.

Grande has been accused of copyright infringement by Robert Barbera, according to a lawsuit filed in New York.

Mr Barbera, a professional photographer, claims Grande had not asked for his permission or paid to use two of his snaps of her.

Image: Grande is the most followed woman on Instagram

The photographs he refers to shows the singer dressed in an over-sized jumper and thigh-high boots, while carrying a see-through bag that has word Sweetener emblazoned on it - the name of her fourth studio album.

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She is alleged to have posted the pictures to her Instagram account on 17 August last year, on the day Sweetener was released, with the caption "Happy sweetener day".

Image: The post was liked more than three million times

The post was reportedly deleted, but the lawsuit says the post was liked 3,392,035 times.

Mr Barbera is seeking damages of up to $25,000 (£19,000) for each picture she used.

The Thank U, Next singer is the most followed woman on Instagram, with 154m followers.

Grande, 25, has not yet responded to requests for comment.