What can explain the appearance (and subsequent deletion) of nude Justin Bieber photos on Selena Gomez's Instagram account?

She was hacked.

A person familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly confirms to USA TODAY that Gomez's social media account was hacked on Monday. But now it's back up and running with no sign of paparazzi photos of her ex-boyfriend in his birthday suit. Instead, the most recent post is a fashion shot from Aug. 23.

Variety was the first outlet to confirm Gomez was hacked.

Why does this matter?

Gomez has 125 million followers on Instagram, making her the most-followed person on the popular photo-sharing platform . When she gets hacked, people are going to notice.

And as for Bieber, he was furious back in 2015 when the nude pictures, surreptitiously snapped by a paparazzo in Bora Bora, were published censored in some media and in uncensored form online.

Bieber told Billy Bush, then at Access Hollywood, how he felt about that.

"My first thing was like…how can they do this? Like, I feel super violated. Like, I feel like I can't step outside and feel like I can go outside naked. Like, you should feel comfortable in your own space… especially that far away," Bieber said.

Contributing: Bryan Alexander, Carly Mallenbaum

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