A coalition of 17 music publishers filed a lawsuit against Twitter on Wednesday in a federal court in Nashville, Tennessee. The publishers allege that the platform is facilitating numerous copyright infringements by permitting users to post music without proper licensing.
The lawsuit claims Twitter enhances user engagement through the proliferation of “countless infringing copies of musical compositions.”
The plaintiffs, members of the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) including notable entities like Sony Music Publishing, BMG Rights Management, and Universal Music Publishing Group, are pursuing over $250 million (approximately Rs. 2,055 crore) in damages. This claim is based on the infringement of nearly 1,700 copyrights.
The filing asserts that the ongoing violations have intensified since Elon Musk acquired Twitter in October. In contrast, the lawsuit argues that competing platforms, such as TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube, successfully license music from publishers.
As of now, Twitter has not provided a comment regarding the lawsuit.
David Israelite, President of the NMPA, remarked that Twitter “stands alone as the largest social media platform that has completely refused to license the millions of songs on its service.”
The lawsuit further claims that Twitter regularly neglects repeat copyright violations by its users who share tweets containing unlicensed music. According to the publishers, Twitter’s actions promote user infringement, bolstering user engagement and ad revenue while providing the company with an “unfair advantage” over those platforms that adhere to music licensing regulations.
The publishers expressed concerns about the state of Twitter’s internal processes linked to this case, citing significant reductions to the company’s legal and trust-and-safety teams since Musk assumed control.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
