Genshin Impact’s publisher is forcing X (formerly Twitter) to reveal the names of leakers who had revealed unreleased material on the platform.
In a DMCA subpoena filed by Cognosphere (a publishing subsidiary of MiHoYo and most known by their trade name HoYoverse) in November 2023 sought to uncover the identities of several X accounts that had leaked information.
According to the initial DMCA takedown, they wanted X to disclose the identity of four leaker accounts, @FurinaaLover, @GIHutaoLover, @HutaoLoverGI, and @HutaoLover77.
The disclosure would reveal their names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, and IP addresses, but Congnosphere believes the accounts to be run by one person. All four accounts have since been deleted.
In January 2024, X refused to comply with Cognosphere citing the DMCA subpoena as an attack on free speech, filing a request to squash it.
However now on September 18, the court denied X’s request, forcing the social media platform to reveal the identities of the leakers.
Initially reported by TorrentFreak, the judge sided with Cognosphere, saying that the issue does not affect the users’ free speech rights as this is a matter of copyright infringement.
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“Here, the speech which prompted the DMCA subpoena at issue is alleged copyright infringement,” wrote the court verdict. “Because there is no First Amendment right which shields copyright infringement…there is no protectable speech at issue.”
Additionally, the verdict also dismissed X’s other claims of Cognosphere not showing ownership of the leaks and that the DMCA was done in “bad faith”.
In the conclusion of the verdict, the court is ordering X to reveal the names of the leakers, dismissing their objection.
“The court overrules [X] objections under the First Amendment to the DMCA subpoena issued by Cognosphere and thus denies [X} motion to quash the subpoena,” it reads.
X nor MiHoYo has yet to address the situation, but as of now, X will be made to reveal the identities of the leakers, unless both parties can find an out-of-court solution.
