Twitter Sued for Over $250 Million by Music Publishers for Copyright Infringement

Twitter drives user engagement with "countless infringing copies of musical compositions," the lawsuit said.

By Reuters | Updated: 15 June 2023 10:05 IST

Twitter Sued for Over $250 Million by Music Publishers for Copyright Infringement

Photo Credit: Bloomberg

The lawsuit said the longstanding infringement has gotten worse since Elon Musk bought Twitter in October

Highlights

A group of 17 music publishers sued Twitter in Nashville
Since taking over Twitter, Musk has repeatedly courted controversy
The publishers said Twitter encourages user infringement

A group of 17 music publishers sued Twitter in Nashville, Tennessee, federal court on Wednesday, accusing the company of enabling thousands of copyright violations by allowing users to post music without a license.

Twitter drives user engagement with "countless infringing copies of musical compositions," the lawsuit said.

Members of the National Music Publishers' Association, including Sony Music Publishing, BMG Rights Management and Universal Music Publishing Group, are seeking more than $250 million (roughly Rs. 2,055 crore) in damages for the alleged infringement of nearly 1,700 copyrights.

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

The lawsuit said the longstanding infringement has gotten worse since Elon Musk bought Twitter in October, and that other major platforms like TikTok, Facebook and YouTube properly license music from the publishers.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

NMPA President David Israelite said in a statement that Twitter "stands alone as the largest social media platform that has completely refused to license the millions of songs on its service."

Twitter to Pay Verified Content Creators For Ads in Replies

Twitter "routinely ignores" repeat infringement by users who post tweets that contain unlicensed music, the lawsuit said. The publishers said Twitter encourages user infringement, which increases engagement and ad revenues while giving it an "unfair advantage" over platforms that pay for music licenses.

"Twitter's internal affairs regarding matters pertinent to this case are in disarray," the publishers said, noting deep cuts to the company's legal and trust-and-safety teams since Musk took control.

Apple unveiled its first mixed reality headset, the Apple Vision Pro, at its annual developer conference, along with new Mac models and upcoming software updates. We discuss all the most important announcements made by the company at WWDC 2023 on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.