The news began to circulate in a big way after sites like Yahoo Celebrity UK tweeted that Horan, the lone Irishman of the group, had left. However, the accounts were later reported to have been hacked, hence the messages.

Had Horan left the group, he would have been the first in what Simon Cowell, who originally brought One Direction together on the TV show The X Factor, has predicted is an imminent demise for the group.