Grimes Admits to Hacking Indie Blog Hipster Runoff

In Canada, DDoS attacks fall under Section 430(1.1) of the Criminal Code. The section is called “Mischief in relation to computer data,” and it pertains to: “Everyone [who] commits mischief who wilfully destroys or alters data; renders data meaningless, useless or ineffective; obstructs, interrupts or interferes with the lawful use of data; or obstructs, interrupts or interferes with any person in the lawful use of data or denies access to data to any person who is entitled to access thereto.”

(For posterity, the Canadian government also provides a definition of “computer data”: “computer data means representations, including signs, signals or symbols, that are in a form suitable for processing in a computer system.”)

The maximum punishment for violating Section 430(1.1) of the Criminal Code is 10 years in prison.

Grimes, in 2012, was living in Montreal, Quebec. Hipster Runoff was taken down in early March 2012, per Carles’ interview with Motherboard. Section 430(1.1) of the Criminal Code was the same at the time as it is today.

What happened to Hipster Runoff?

Singh, on Hacking But Legal, has provided a good history of Hipster Runoff and the aftermath of the DDoS attack. According to Singh, Carles did not post about Grimes between April 2012 and October 2013. She notes that there was only one minor post about Grimes after the hacking occurred.

By January 2015, Carles put Hipster Runoff up for sale. At the end of the month, the site sold for $21,100, according to BrooklynVegan.

Carles has largely stayed out of the public eye since selling his website. He spoke with Motherboard again in 2015 for a retrospective called “The Last Relevant Blogger.” Also that year, he discussed the meaning of “indie” with Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig in a Fader article. The @hipsterrunoff Twitter account has not sent a tweet or retweeted anything since May 2015, and the account has not liked a tweet since February 2019.

HipsterRunoff.com is still an active website, but does not have the archive of Carles’ posts. There is only a button to email trevor@hipsterrunoff.com, an address apparently belonging to Trevor McFedries, the Los Angeles–based co-founder of tech startup Brud and co-creator of the digital pop star Lil Miquela. “this seems like a bit of a reach but if by chance anyone out there scraped HipsterRunoff and has any kind of backup/record,” McFedries tweeted yesterday.

Derek Mead, who interviewed Carles about the hacking in 2012, and Brian Merchant, who wrote “The Last Relevant Blogger,” have also commented on Grimes’ admission. “It is a WILD plot twist that Grimes is now taking credit for taking down Hipster Runoff in 2012,” Mead tweeted. “What a ludicrous thing to admit in a video while talking about being canceled!”

Merchant said, “Grimes getting her friends in the gaming industry to DDOS the Hipster Runoff blog because Carles reposted some photos of her from Last Nights Party is such a concentrated dose of reprised 00s indie hipster culture it might literally kill me.”

Reacting to Grimes’ admission, Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino tweeted, “tbh thank you for your service Claire.” She added, “To be on the receiving end of hipster runoff hate was severely damaging to my mental health. I know y’all thought it was funny but tbh it sucked VERY MUCH.”

Pitchfork has reached out to Grimes and Carles for comment.