In re Subpoenas to Reddit, Inc. and Discord, Inc. (Ted Entertainment copyright suit; r/h3snark moderator Doe defendants)
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
- Court
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
- Docket
- No. 3:25-mc-80296
- Parties
- Underlying plaintiff: Ted Entertainment, Inc. (Ethan Klein's company). Targets: anonymous moderators of r/h3snark and an associated Discord server (John Doe defendants). Subpoena recipients: Reddit, Inc. and Discord, Inc.
- Claim type
- ip-scraping
- Filed
- 2025
- Outcome
- A judge permitted Ted Entertainment to serve subpoenas on Reddit and Discord on July 31, 2025. The Doe moderators moved to quash on September 22, 2025; the motion was denied on April 29, 2026, and the Doe defendants reportedly filed a notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit.
Summary
As part of copyright-infringement litigation brought by Ethan Klein's company Ted Entertainment, Inc., Klein sought to unmask the anonymous moderators of r/h3snark, a subreddit critical of him, by subpoenaing Reddit and Discord for their identifying data. A judge allowed the subpoenas on July 31, 2025; on September 22, 2025 the moderators moved to quash, arguing the action sought to chill anonymous criticism and exposed them to harassment. The court denied the motion to quash on April 29, 2026, allowing the unmasking to proceed, and the moderators reportedly appealed. The dispute centers on whether linking to a critic's reaction stream constitutes contributory copyright infringement versus protected anonymous speech. The formal underlying vehicle is copyright, not defamation.