A collection of 17 music publishers in the United States has filed a lawsuit against Twitter, alleging that the platform permitted copyright breaches involving roughly 1,700 songs.
The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) is suing for more than $250 million (£197.7 million).
The NMPA stated in a case filed in Federal District Court in Nashville that Twitter “permits and encourages infringement” for profit.
It claims that the situation has not improved since Elon Musk purchased the company.
The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), which represents companies such as Sony Music Publishing, BMG Rights Management, and Universal Music Publishing Group, claimed that Twitter continues to “reap huge profits from the availability of unlicensed music without paying the necessary licensing fees for it.”
It went on to say that the infringements gave Twitter a “unfair advantage” over competitors who pay for music licenses, such as TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat.
Twitter “stands alone as the largest social media platform that has completely refused to license the millions of songs on its service,” according to NMPA President David Israelite.
Twitter did not react immediately to a BBC request for comment.
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Mr Musk, who recently recaptured the title of world’s richest person, paid $44 billion for Twitter last year.
According to the NMPA, “Twitter’s change in ownership in October 2022 has not led to improvements in how it acts with respect to copyright.”
“On the contrary, Twitter’s internal affairs regarding matters pertinent to this case are in disarray,” the statement continued.
The downsizing of “critical departments involved with content review and policing terms of service violations” at Twitter, as well as the resignations of trust and safety chiefs Yoel Roth and Ella Irwin, were cited by NMPA.
According to the NMPA, Twitter “routinely ignores known repeat infringers and known infringements.”
Linda Yaccarino, the former chief of advertising at media conglomerate NBCUniversal, was named CEO of the ailing social networking platform earlier this month.
Ms Yaccarino is in charge of the platform’s business operations, which has been struggling to make money.
Mr Musk has eliminated 75% of Twitter’s personnel since purchasing the firm, including teams entrusted with policing abuse, and changed how the company validates accounts.
