Take-Two Subpoenas Microsoft and Discord to Unmask GTA 6 Leaker as Court Filing Cites 'Stolen Content'

Take-Two Interactive filed subpoenas against Microsoft and Discord on Thursday, August 20, 2026, trying to identify whoever is behind a wave of Grand Theft Auto 6 leaks that hit social media this week. The filings, made in the Southern District of New York and first reported by Kotaku, ask both companies to hand over account IDs, registration emails, IP addresses, phone numbers, and linked content tied to accounts believed to be running the leaks, according to Forbes.

The leaker, or leakers, go by the name Cyberleek. Over the course of the week, nine separate clips and screenshots surfaced online purporting to show unreleased GTA 6 content, according to Mashable's running tally. That includes two partial map screenshots, a full map image, a video of protagonist Jason Duval playing basketball, a driving clip that ends in a fistfight, a clip of Jason tasering a security guard and kicking him while he's down, footage of an in-game healing drug called Zombix, and a driving clip in a high-end sports car.

The clip that changed the story is the biplane video. It shows Jason flying over Vice City in daylight, with what PC Gamer's reviewer called a "massive, detailed, and almost shockingly realistic" view of the surrounding map, known in-game as Leonida. The video runs close to two minutes before cutting to footage of Jason firing a rifle into a wall, spelling out the word LEEK in bullet holes, a deliberate misspelling that mirrors the leaker's own name.

Insider Gaming, PC Gamer, Polygon, and Rock Paper Shotgun all noted that the bullet-hole clip is the strongest evidence yet that Cyberleek possesses, or once possessed, an actual playable build of the game rather than just secondhand footage recorded off a screen somewhere inside Rockstar. Polygon's report specifically credited Insider Gaming for first flagging that detail through Reddit commenters.

Another possibility exists: because Cyberleek reportedly lets the public vote on which clips get released next through its own website, the leaker may be drawing from a larger pre-existing stash of footage rather than actively playing the game right now. Under that reading, the wall-shooting clip proves access happened at some point, not that it's ongoing. Polygon's updated version of its story flagged this exact distinction, walking back language that implied current access was confirmed.

Take-Two's own court filing appears to settle part of that debate. According to Mashable, the subpoenas specifically cite "stolen content," which the outlet said effectively confirms the leaks are legitimate rather than fabricated or AI-generated. The subpoena against Microsoft also references a GitHub page, since taken down, that still links to a Telegram channel called "Cyberleek Research" where more leaked material can reportedly be viewed.

Rock Paper Shotgun's coverage highlights another detail: some of the leaked videos have been watermarked with a QR code promoting cryptocurrency. The outlet, along with the group Stop Killing Games, noted that the leaker's self-description as a "consumer rights" crusader looks more like an attempt to cash in on gamer goodwill for crypto donations. That's a specific and sourced skepticism, since most other coverage took Cyberleek's stated motives largely at face value.

Those stated motives center on physical media. Text overlaid on the leaked clips says Cyberleek will keep releasing footage until Rockstar commits to a disc-based version of GTA 6. A manifesto posted alongside the leaks, quoted by Forbes, lays out "Three Commandments," including a demand that "no consumer shall pay for a game through digital storefronts before release and independent review." Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick reaffirmed the digital-only release plan earlier this month, and GTA 6 is set to ship in November 2026 with physical copies containing only a download code, not a disc.

Rockstar and Take-Two have not issued a public statement on this week's leaks. Gamesradar noted the silence echoes the company's response to a much larger 2022 leak, when roughly 80 work-in-progress clips got out. Rockstar called that breach costly, later putting the recovery bill at $5 million and thousands of staff hours. The person responsible for that 2022 breach is reportedly awaiting retrial this November.

Rumors, unconfirmed by any named source, point to India, where Rockstar has outsourced parts of GTA 6's development, as the origin point for this week's leaks. Take-Two has not confirmed that theory publicly.

The subpoenas give Microsoft and Discord until the morning of September 4 to hand over records. That's just over a week after Rockstar's official Extended Look at GTA 6 is scheduled to broadcast on Netflix on August 27. Whether Cyberleek keeps posting between now and then, and whether Take-Two's legal push actually unmasks them before that broadcast, remains unresolved.