Twitter is facing yet another significant legal battle as a collective of over a dozen music publishers initiates a lawsuit worth $250 million, accusing the platform of engaging in extensive copyright infringement.
The National Music Publishers Association filed the suit, claiming that Twitter users have repeatedly violated artists’ copyrights, with minimal intervention from the company. Remarkably, Twitter stands out as one of the few major social platforms that lacks licensing agreements.
The New York Times reports that Twitter had been in discussions to establish such an agreement, but these negotiations eventually collapsed. The lawsuit argues that while other Twitter competitors recognize the importance of obtaining proper licenses and agreements for using musical compositions on their platforms, Twitter neglects this responsibility, resulting in rampant copyright infringement that harms music creators.
Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges that Twitter disregards music publishers’ requests to remove copyright-infringing material despite receiving weekly notifications. “Despite being aware of these specific instances of infringement, Twitter routinely ignores well-known repeat infringers and known infringements, failing to implement simple measures within its reach to address the issue,” states the legal filing.
The lawsuit also contends that numerous offending tweets are shared by verified users, and Twitter appears less inclined to take action against these accounts. “Twitter hardly suspended any of the verified accounts identified in the NMPA Notices, even though these accounts possess large follower bases,” the suit claims. It further suggests that Twitter bestows preferential treatment upon verified accounts, perceiving them as more valuable and monetizable compared to unverified accounts with fewer followers.
Although the lawsuit acknowledges that copyright infringement has plagued Twitter for years, it asserts that the situation has deteriorated since Elon Musk assumed control of the company, leading to internal “disarray.” Notably, the legal action cites tweets from Musk himself, wherein he criticizes copyright law and describes the “overzealous DMCA” as a “plague on humanity.”
The music publishers argue that such statements, along with others of a similar nature, exert pressure on Twitter employees, particularly those in the trust and safety team, regarding copyright-related matters and infringement.
At the time of writing, Twitter has not responded to requests for comment.
