Universal, Sony and more sue Twitter for $250million following alleged copyright infringement

The National Music Publishers Association (NMAP) and its members have issued a lawsuit against Twitter following alleged copyright infringement.

The suit was filed in Nashville’s Federal Court yesterday (June 14) and claims that the social media platform has infringed on over 1,700 different songs.

It also seeks up to $150,000 (£118,630) per infringement — which totals up to $255million (£180million) to be paid if Twitter is found liable.

Some of the biggest music publishing companies are included among the plaintiffs listed including Sony Music Publishing, Warner Chappell, Universal Music Publishing, BMG and Kobalt.

The publishers listed direct copyright infringement, contributory infringement and vicarious infringement as their counts.

David Israelite, the president of NMPA issued a statement regarding the suit, stating: “Twitter stands alone as the largest social media platform that has completely refused to license the millions of songs on its service.”

He continued: “Twitter knows full well that music is leaked, launched, and streamed by billions of people every day on its platform. No longer can it hide behind the DMCA and refuse to pay songwriters and music publishers.”

Twitter has not yet issued a response regarding the allegations.

The inability of the social media giant and music publishers to reach a licensing agreement stems back numerous years and, at time of writing, Twitter is the only major social media company to be working without one.

As per the suit, the plaintiffs stated that they hoped new ownership of the company would help them resolve the ongoing issue. That being said, Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter last year seems to have done little to help them reach an agreement.

Discussing the change in ownership in the suit, the plaintiffs claimed that Musk’s impact has “not led to improvements in how it acts with respect to copyright”. It also said that the acquisition had done the “contrary”, writing: “Twitter’s internal affairs regarding matters pertinent to this case are in disarray.”

Last year, Musk’s Twitter made headlines once again as he announced that he would be removing all verification checkmarks, and only issuing them to profiles that opt-in to pay for Twitter Blue subscriptions.

The decision led to backlash from various figures in the entertainment world, with Doja Cat writing: “Having a blue tick now means there’s a higher chance that you’re a complete loser and that you’re desperate for validation from famous people.”

Controversy arose once again last month, when Twitter’s new feature for Blue subscribers – the ability to upload two-hour videos – was revealed to have been used for film piracy.

The post Universal, Sony and more sue Twitter for $250million following alleged copyright infringement appeared first on NME.