Music publishers sue Musk’s Twitter for copyright infringement, and ‘fueling its business’ with stolen content

A group of music publishers have filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s Twitter. The case filed in a federal court in Nashville, Tennessee, accuses the social media giant of fueling its business with numerous copyright music infringements.

The lawsuit against Twitter

Seventeen publishers, including Sony Music Publishing, BMG Rights Management, and Universal Music Publishing Group, have accused Twitter of facilitating numerous copyright violations by allowing users to post music without obtaining the necessary licenses.

As per an AFP report quoting National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) CEO David Israelite, Twitter is the only major social media platform that has completely refused to license the millions of songs available on its service. He claims that Twitter is well aware that music is leaked, released, and streamed by billions of people daily on its platform.

“Twitter stands alone as the largest social media platform that has completely refused to license the millions of songs on its service,” said Israelite in reply to AFP.

“Twitter knows full-well that music is leaked, launched, and streamed by billions of people every day on its platform.”

What do the complainants want?

As per a Reuters report, the publishers are seeking more than $250 million in damages for the alleged infringement of almost 1,700 copyrights.

The lawsuit claims that Twitter’s handling of copyright complaints has not improved since Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company in late 2022 for $44 billion. 

It further argues that Twitter’s internal affairs related to this issue are in “disarray”.

“On the contrary, Twitter’s internal affairs regarding matters pertinent to this case are in disarray,” argues the lawsuit.

Music infringement and other platforms

In contrast to Twitter, other major platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube properly license music from the publishers. 

The publishers argue that Twitter actively encourages user infringement, which in turn boosts engagement and advertising revenues for the platform, giving it an unfair advantage over competitors who pay for music licenses.

“Twitter refuses to stop the rampant infringement of copyrighted music… because it knows that the Twitter platform is more popular and profitable if Twitter allows such infringement.”

Allowing unlicensed music to be used in Twitter posts gives the platform an edge over competitors such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube that pay fees to music publishers, speculates the lawsuit.

“Twitter fuels its business with countless infringing copies of musical compositions,” alleges the suit.

(With inputs from agencies)

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