Twitter Faces $250 Million Lawsuit for Allowing Copyrighted Music

On behalf of 17 prominent music publishers, the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) has filed a legal case against Twitter.

The lawsuit, filed in a Tennessee federal court, alleges that the company maintains its business by hosting numerous unauthorized copies of music tracks, thereby violating the rights of publishers and other rights under copyright law.  The exclusive rights of the owners are violated.

The lawsuit also includes a comprehensive list of nearly 1,700 songs whose publishers claim Twitter has been repeatedly reported for copyright infringement, yet the company has failed to take appropriate action.  Prosecutors are seeking a court order to fine Twitter up to $150,000 for its alleged violations.

This release precedes Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition of Twitter last year.  According to unnamed employees cited in The New York Times, Twitter chose not to pursue the music licensing deal because of the significant costs associated with it, estimated at more than $100 million annually.

The report also said that licensing talks between the three major brands and Twitter hit a snag after Musk took the reins last fall.

Interestingly, the lawsuit also refers to Musk's tweets and additional features of the Twitter Blue package, such as the ability to upload longer videos.

While it does not specifically account for the recent influx of movies uploaded to Twitter, such as unauthorized copies of Super Mario Bros.  Movie and Avatar: The Way of Water which was available hours before it was removed, it suggests providing some examples of tweets from Musk.

Twitter has received many reports of alleged copyright infringement, mainly related to music videos, live music performances, and videos synced to copyrighted music.  NMPA claims that Twitter used these videos to increase the value of its platform by elongating user engagement.

However, the league has accused Twitter of failing to promptly remove the offending content despite being notified and alleges that the platform has repeatedly executed without consequence.