'Nude Emma Watson pictures' website now claims to defend celebrities' privacy

Emma Watson attends the HeForShe campaign launch at the United Nations in New York. Credit: Dennis Van Tine/ABACA USA/Empics Entertainment

A website which appeared to be threatening the release of naked pictures of actress Emma Watson now claims to have been set up to defend celebrities' privacy.

The site, emmayouarenext.com, had featured a clock counting down to what it implied was the release of intimate hacked pictures.

It went live shortly after Watson's speech on sexual equality to the UN and was thought to be a direct response to the subject matter by 4chan, which has previously released naked pictures of celebrities.

However it is now credited to a PR company which claims to have been "hired by celebrity publicists" to tackle the hacking issue.

The website had featured a countdown clock implying it would release naked pictures of Emma Watson. Credit: Rantic.com

A statement on the website says:

The site and accompanying Twitter feed calls for more censorship on the internet and calls for the ending of 4chan, the network which originally posted hacked nude pictures of celebrities including Jennifer Lawrence.

Far from releasing hacked pictures of the Harry Potter actress Rantic say they are supporting her and her campaign which she unveiled to the UN at the weekend.

Rantic has been contacted, but has yet to respond to ITV News' queries.

Several, mainly female, celebrities were targeted when intimate pictures of them were posted online last month.

The Hollywood stars, including Jennifer Lawrence and model Kate Upton saw intimate photos posted on forum site 4chan.

Apple denied the leak was due to its security problems.