Court allows Take-Two to obtain personal data of Discord users who may be involved in the GTA 6 leak

Judge Andrew L. Carter has granted Take-Two Interactive request for a new subpoena, one that would require Discord to hand over more detailed information about users tied to the GTA 6 leak. In his ruling, the judge wrote that "the court finds good reason to issue an order directing the clerk to issue said subpoena."

The judge also granted a separate motion from Take-Two attorney Dale N. Cendali asking that the details of the request remain sealed. The ruling notes that the subpoena will be issued "as sought by the petitioner," meaning the contents of the document will stay confidential.

The whole saga kicked off after an account going by Cyberleek ran a scheme selling access to supposedly stolen GTA 6 footage, pocketed more than $200,000, then vanished with the cash. The scam played out about as predictably as it did lucratively, and now its organizer is presumably hoping Take-Two investigation doesn't catch up to their real identity.

Before the leak even picked up steam, Take-Two had already filed subpoena requests targeting Discord and Microsoft. The company sought "business records and investigative records associated with Microsoft's internal investigation of the 'cyberleek' persona sufficient to identify the user(s)," along with detailed data on thousands of users who interacted with specific Discord servers. Similar subpoenas later went out to X and YouTube.

Those early requests cast a wide net, but a newer filing submitted on August 28 is far more narrow in scope. The document states:

Take-Two has identified one additional Discord user and obtained additional identifying information for a previously identified Discord user, as well as additional information concerning the community servers identified in its prior subpoena for which it now seeks more targeted information. These additional accounts and server are believed to be involved in the same infringing activity as that described in Take-Two's first request.

A footnote adds that "Take-Two's investigation of the infringement at issue is rapidly evolving and ongoing," and clarifies that the information sought in this newer subpoena differs from the first, "and provides additional clarifying information regarding one of the user IDs specified in the first subpoena."

Also on August 28, Take-Two withdrew its request for a DMCA subpoena targeting Google, repeating that the situation "has been (and is) evolving rapidly as new information becomes available." That move suggests the company investigation has shifted focus toward other platforms, where it apparently found stronger leads on the identities of the alleged infringers.