Take-Two subpoenas Microsoft and Discord to unmask the GTA 6 leaker known as "CyberLeek"
Take-Two Interactive has filed subpoenas in a US federal court demanding that Microsoft and Discord hand over identifying information on the person — or people — behind a string of Grand Theft Auto VI leaks.
The publisher, whose Rockstar Games studio develops the GTA franchise, filed one of the subpoenas with the Southern District Court of New York on 20th August, according to Kotaku's reporting cited by Eurogamer. Both Microsoft and Discord have been given until 4th September to produce everything they hold on the online persona "CyberLeek," which claimed credit for the leaked GTA 6 material.
The subpoenas are wide in scope. Take-Two is asking Microsoft for information "sufficient to identify the user(s) person" tied to the account, including account IDs, registration emails, IP addresses, phone numbers, and linked Xbox and Google accounts. From Discord, Take-Two wants every user account that has been a member of or communicated in servers named CyberLeek, CinematicRockstar, Surfer24K, Odyssey, and DarkViperAU.
The copyrighted material at issue, according to one subpoena, "includes but is not limited to audiovisual content, artwork, images, dialogue, or other creative elements." Take-Two submitted a sworn declaration through its counsel confirming the subpoena was sought under the DMCA — the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a US law that lets copyright holders request user-identifying data from service providers when investigating alleged infringement. The publisher stated the information would be used only to protect its rights.
Take-Two had already begun issuing DMCA takedown notices over the alleged GTA 6 gameplay leaks on 19th August, according to Insider Gaming — a step that, in practice, treats the leaked material as genuine copyrighted work rather than fan fabrication. Under US copyright law, statutory damages for infringement range from a minimum of US$750 to a maximum of US$150,000 per violation, as Unilad Tech noted.
This is not the first time GTA 6 has leaked ahead of release. Take-Two confirmed on 19th September 2022 that a hacker had leaked early footage of Grand Theft Auto VI, as Reuters reported at the time. That earlier breach led to the arrest and prosecution of a teenage member of the Lapsus$ hacking group in the UK.
For a publisher as secretive as Rockstar, leaks are more than a nuisance — they spoil years of carefully staged marketing and can expose unfinished work to audiences who may judge it before it is ready. The subpoena route shows Take-Two treating the current leaks not as a PR problem to manage but as a legal matter to pursue, with real names, real accounts, and a court-imposed deadline now in play.
Whether Microsoft and Discord comply by 4th September will determine how quickly — or whether — the CyberLeek identity surfaces.
