A Dutch court has ordered Facebook to identify the person who uploaded a sexually explicit video of a 21-year-old woman back in January.

But there’s a problem. Facebook would love to help, but it can’t, it says.

Why? According to Facebook, the request for user data simply came too late.

“The offending account was ultimately deleted before we received any request for user data, so all information about it was removed from our servers in accordance with our terms and applicable law,” Facebook said in a statement. “We deeply empathize with the victim’s experience and share her desire to keep this kind of non-consensual imagery off of Facebook.”

Facebook says it was take up to 90 days to strip all traces of an account off its servers after deletion.

“When you delete your account, people won’t be able to see it on Facebook. It may take up to 90 days to delete all of the things you’ve posted, like your photos, status updates or other data stored in backup systems. While we are deleting this information, it is inaccessible to other people using Facebook,” says Facebook’s FAQ on deleting accounts.

The Dutch court order came after the woman, referred to as “Chantal”, sued Facebook after a video of her having sex with an ex boyfriend wound up on the site. As is Facebook’s policy, the video was quickly removed. But of course, as is the case more often than not, something only needs to exists online for a short time for it to be copied and spread via alternate channels.

The ex-boyfriend denied posting the video, and the account was quickly deleted.

Facebook, which has banned most nudity on its site since the beginning, officially banned “revenge porn” earlier this year. The company has been sued for similar reasons before.