Netflix is looking toward Discord for help in figuring out who, exactly, is leaking unreleased footage from some of its popular shows. The Northern District of California court issued a subpoena on Thursday to compel Discord to share information that can help identify a Discord user who’s reportedly involved in leaking episodes and images from Netflix shows like Arcane and Squid Game.
Netflix subpoenas Discord to ID alleged Arcane, Squid Game leaker
Netflix is looking for the leaker’s identity
Image: Fortiche, Riot Games/Netflix
Nicole Carpenter is a senior reporter specializing in investigative features about labor issues in the game industry, as well as the business and culture of games.
Documents filed alongside the subpoena specifically call out an unreleased and copyrighted image from the second season of Squid Game, posted by a Discord user @jacejohns4n. In an interview linked on the user’s now deleted X account, published on Telegram, the leaker claimed responsibility for the self-described “worst leak in streaming history,” where episodes of Arcane, Heartstopper, Dandadan, Terminator Zero, and other shows were published online. Netflix confirmed in August that a post production studio was hacked.
“One of our post production partners has been compromised and footage from several of our titles has unfortunately leaked online. Our team is aggressively taking action to have it taken down,” a Netflix representative told press at the time.
The impacted Netflix partner is reportedly Iyuno, a localization firm located in California, according to a Variety report from August. “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 our clients’ confidentiality and ensuring the security of their content is our highest priority. We are actively investigating this security breach to mitigate any potential risks and identify the responsible parties.”
Iyuno lists Amazon Studios, BBC, Disney, HBO, and DreamWorks among its clients. The state of the episodes posted online line up with the fact these came from a production partner — episodes included time stamps, watermarks, and annotations, according to an IGN report.
Netflix has not yet responded to Polygon’s request for comment regarding the Discord subpoena. All social media accounts associated with @jacejohns4n have seemingly been deleted or suspended.
The documents filed in November do not necessarily indicate a lawsuit; Digital Millennium Copyright Act laws allow copyright holders to file DMCA subpoenas without attached lawsuits. Copyright holders use this tactic to identify anonymous users on platforms like Discord, YouTube, X, and Reddit. Discord is currently fighting South Korean publisher Nexon over “improper and overly burdensome” DMCA subpoenas. “Discord is committed to fulfilling its obligations under the law, but acting as your copyright assertion partner is not one of them,” a Discord lawyer wrote to Nexon in a letter published as part of the case.
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