Aaron Carter, the singer-rapper who began performing as a child and had hit albums starting in his teen years, was found dead Saturday at his home in Southern California. He was 34.
Representatives for Carter's family confirmed the singer's death. They did not provide any immediate further comment.
Carter, the younger brother of Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys, performed as an opening act for Britney Spears as well as his brother's boy band, and appeared on the family's reality series "House of Carters" that aired on E! Entertainment Television.
Deputies responded around 11 a.m. following reports of a medical emergency at the home in Lancaster, said Deputy Alejandra Parra with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Parra said the deputies found a deceased person at the residence, but she could not immediately confirm it was Carter.
Carter's fiancé, Melanie Martin, asked for privacy as the family grieves.
"We are still in the process of accepting this unfortunate reality," Martin said in a statement Saturday. "Your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated."
Carter's 2000 album, "Aaron's Party (Come Get It)," sold three million copies and produced hit singles including the title song and "I Want Candy. His videos received regular airplay on Disney and Nickelodeon.
In 2009, Carter appeared on the ABC competition show "Dancing with the Stars," finishing in fifth place with partner Karina Smirnoff.
Carter's fifth and final studio album, "LOVE," was released in 2018.
South Korea fines Meta $15 million for illegally collecting information on Facebook users
South Korea's privacy watchdog on Tuesday fined social media company Meta 21.6 billion won ($15 million) for illegally collecting sensitive personal information from Facebook users, including data about their political views and sexual orientation, and sharing it with thousands of advertisers.
It was the latest in a series of penalties against Meta by South Korean authorities in recent years as they increase their scrutiny of how the company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, handles private information.
Following a four-year investigation, South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission concluded that Meta unlawfully collected sensitive information about around 980,000 Facebook users, including their religion, political views and whether they were in same-sex unions, from July 2018 to March 2022.
It said the company shared the data with around 4,000 advertisers.
South Korea's privacy law provides strict protection for information related to personal beliefs, political views and sexual behavior, and bars companies from processing or using such data without the specific consent of the person involved.
The commission said Meta amassed sensitive information by analyzing the pages the Facebook users liked or the advertisements they clicked on.
The company categorized ads to identify users interested in themes such as specific religions, same-sex and transgender issues, and issues related to North Korean escapees, said Lee Eun Jung, a director at the commission who led the investigation on Meta.
"While Meta collected this sensitive information and used it for individualized services, they made only vague mentions of this use in their data policy and did not obtain specific consent," Lee said.
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