Music publishers have filed a $250 million lawsuit against the social media platform Twitter for alleged violations of copyright laws. The lawsuit, filed by the National Music Publishers' Association, which includes Universal, Sony and Warner Music Group, claims that for years, Twitter has allowed users to share copyrighted songs without a license, and that its permissive approach to the sharing of copyrighted material has only gotten worse since Elon Musk's acquisition of the company last fall.
The lawsuit cites more than 1,700 songs whose copyright Twitter has allegedly infringed, including hits such as Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You," Outkast's "Hey Ya!" and Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk," featuring Bruno Mars. The music publishers claim that Twitter's promotion of tweets with copyrighted music has unlawfully helped fuel the company's growth and given it an unfair advantage over its competitors, who all pay licensing fees to rightsholders for the ability to use copyrighted music.
According to the complaint, "The availability of videos with music, including copies of Publishers' musical compositions, furthers Twitter's financial interests both because it drives user engagement, and thus advertising revenue, and because Twitter does not pay fees to license musical compositions." The lawsuit also cites sweeping layoffs under Musk's ownership that have eliminated entire teams at Twitter, as well as Musk's own views on copyright, which the plaintiffs argue "exert pressure on Twitter employees, including those in its trust and safety team, on issues relating to copyright and infringement."
Twitter has not yet responded to the lawsuit. The legal risks facing Twitter are already expansive, with the US government currently investigating possible violations of the company's privacy and security agreements with the Federal Trade Commission. The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee.