- Who
- Avril Lavigne
- What
- 14.51 percentage
- Where
- Not Applicable ()
- When
- 2017
Avril Lavigne (Canada) is the celebrity who generates the most "dangerous" search results on Google, Bing and Yahoo!, according to the 2017 "McAfee Most Dangerous Celebrities" study. Fuelled by a conspiracy theory that she had died and had been replaced by an imposter named Melissa Vandella, and an earlier Instagram post about her battle with Lyme disease which promised a new album in 2017, Lavigne posed the biggest security risk for users browsing the web, making them more vulnerable to malicious websites and malware. Other "dangerous" musicians include Bruno Mars, Carly Rae Jepsen, Zayn Malik, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry.
Lavigne's risk percentage was calculated at 14.51 per cent, ahead of Mars (13.43 per cent), Jepsen (13.19 per cent) and Malik (13.06 per cent).
"Avril Lavigne + free mp3" was the "riskiest way to search for Avril Lavigne content" according to the study, resulting in a "risk percentage of nearly 22 per cent". "Free mp3", "free torrent" and "free mp4" were the riskiest search terms, with musicians dominating the study.
Lavigne, the first female musician to take the No.1 position in McAfee's annual study, replaced comedian/actress Amy Schumer as the most "dangerous" celebrity. The pint-sized pop star was ranked No.2 in 2013, behind actress Lily Collins.
The study, now in its 11th year, came with the warning: "Don't let cybercriminals strike the wrong chord. Use caution when searching for your favourite celebrities to avoid malware and other online threats."
