A group of US music publishers sued Twitter for mass copyright infringement on Wednesday and are now seeking up to $250 million in damages from the social media platform, according to a lawsuit filing.
The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) – which includes Universal Music Publishing Group Sony Music Publishing, and BMG Rights Management – has accused Twitter of enabling copyright violations involving 1,700 songs.
The publisher claimed that the social media site continues to “reap huge profits from the availability of unlicensed music without paying the necessary licensing fees for it.”
The infringement has given Twitter an “unfair advantage” over it competitors like Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram – all of which pay for licenses to legally use music.
NMPA President David Israelite said in a statement on Wednesday 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 said that the longstanding infringement has only worsened since the platform’s owner Elon Musk bought it in October last year.
It alleged that since Musk took over the company, the social media platform’s internal affairs “regarding matters pertinent to this case are in disarray.”
Twitter accused of hosting pervasive music infringement
The filing argues that “pervasive infringing activity at issue in this case is no accident,” and that Twitter has become a “hot destination for multimedia content, with music-infused video being of particular and paramount importance.”
“Twitter knows perfectly well that neither it or nor users of the Twitter platform have secured licenses for the rampant use of music being made on its platform as complained of herein. Nonetheless, in connection with its highly interactive platform, Twitter consistently and knowingly hosts and streams infringing copies of musical compositions, including ones uploaded by or streamed to Tennessee residents and including specific infringing material that Twitter knows is infringing.
“Twitter profits handsomely from this infringement of Publishers’ repertoires of musical compositions. The audio and audio-visual recordings embodying those compositions attract and retain users (both account holders and visitors) and drive engagement, thereby furthering Twitter’s lucrative advertising business and other revenue streams.
“Twitter refuses to stop the rampant infringement of copyrighted music, including Publishers’ musical compositions, because it knows that the Twitter platform is more popular and profitable with such infringement.”
Musk bought a microblogging site for $44 billion last year. Earlier this month, the billionaire reclaimed his title as the world’s richest person.
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