It’s not bullying.
Well, it is a good thing that Cruise was not quoted as saying that the hackers were bullies. The bullies quote was part of an interview that later led to a mention of the hackers, but the actual bullies claim was made regarding the paparazzi and tabloids that were involved in the death of Princess Di.
You may want to argue that neither harrassing someone to the point where they stupidly get into a fatal car crash nor circling the body like vultures, (with no consideration for their grieving survivors), meets your definition of bullying, but you need to address those actions, not those of the hackers, if you wish to dismiss bullying in the context of the linked report.
You’re correct that the author flung the word into that article, but here is the relevant part of the linked story, in which Cruise is equating harsh judgmement by the media - to bullying. (not Princess Di)
CRUISE: "…if someone judges me harshly, it’s okay. I don’t even judge them harshly for doing it.
PLAYBOY: Did that perspective come with maturity?
CRUISE: I think it’s something I’ve always felt. I remember back as a little kid, going into a new school. Always, you know there will be a guy coming up at you, and you just wait for it. The first day someone’s going to slam me against a locker, and then it’s on. I don’t want the fight, but it’s there, it’s happening.
PLAYBOY: And you have to stand up for yourself.
CRUISE: You have to. There’s one thing you know with a bully. I don’t care how big or mean they are. If you allow it, if you don’t stand up to that.… And there are different ways to do it. There’s the school yard, but sometimes just confronting them works. I learned hard lessons as a kid, and you think that once you grow up and aren’t at school, it will be different. It isn’t; it’s just bigger. I was being evaluated by the world. You have language barriers. There are lots of ways to incite incidents through miscommunication. The internet has made it more immediate for false stuff. I’ve learned to just let it go or communicate where you can. Since the beginning of my career, you can find something with anyone.
PLAYBOY: You’re not totally passive. You have sued over some particularly personal things that have been written about you and your family. Was it worth it?"
Cruise is equating unfair judgement by media types to bullying, he doesnt touch on anything about physical stalking. Still a misapplication in my opinion even though I fully back the attitudes celebrities hold towards tabloids.
In extreme circumstances, like in the movie Paparazzi (ironically a Mel Gibson film lol) I would probably say the main character could fall within the parameters of being bullied, but falls under the umbrella of harassment anyway. I dont know how often that happens to that degree shown in the movie but it’s pretty sick shit no matter what we call it.