Netflix is asking Discord for help in figuring out who exactly is leaking unreleased footage from some of its popular shows. The court in the Northern District of California has issued a ruling summon on Thursday to force Discord to share information that could help identify a Discord user allegedly involved in leaking episodes and images of Netflix shows like Arcane And Squid game.
Documents filed alongside the subpoena specifically reference an unreleased and copyrighted image from the second season of Squid gameposted by a Discord user @jacejohns4n. In an interview linked to the user’s now-deleted X account, published on Telegramthe leaker claimed responsibility for the self-proclaimed ‘worst leak in streaming history’, which includes episodes Arcane, Heart stopper, Dandadan, Terminator zeroand other shows were published online. Netflix confirmed in August that a post-production studio had been hacked.
“One of our post-production partners has been compromised and images of several of our titles have unfortunately been leaked online. Our team is aggressively taking action to have it removed,” a Netflix representative told the press at the time.
The affected Netflix partner is reportedly Iyuno, a localization company based in California. according to an August Variety report. “Iyuno is aware of a recent security issue involving unauthorized access to confidential content,” an Iyuno spokesperson said in a statement published on the company’s website. “Protecting the confidentiality of our customers and ensuring the security of their content is our top priority. We are actively investigating this security breach to mitigate potential risks and identify the responsible parties.”
Iyuno lists Amazon Studios, BBC, Disney, HBO and DreamWorks among his clients. The status of the episodes posted online corresponds to them coming from a production partner – episodes include timestamps, watermarks and annotations. according to an IGN report.
Netflix has not yet responded to Polygon’s request for comment regarding Discord’s subpoena. All social media accounts associated with @jacejohns4n have apparently been deleted or suspended.
The documents filed in November do not necessarily indicate a lawsuit; The laws of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act allow copyright holders to file DMCA subpoenas without associated lawsuits. Copyright holders use this tactic to identify anonymous users on platforms such as Discord, YouTube, X and Reddit. Discord is currently battling South Korean publisher Nexon over “inappropriate and overly burdensome” DMCA subpoenas. “Discord is committed to meeting its obligations under the law, but acting as your copyright claim partner is not one of them,” a Discord lawyer wrote in a letter to Nexon published as part of the case.