Twitter, the popular social media platform, has landed itself in a legal battle with a coalition of major music publishers, consisting of industry giants like Universal Music Corp., Sony Music Publishing, BMG, and Warner Chapell. The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) filed a lawsuit against Twitter for copyright infringement, accusing the platform of failing to take action against copyright violation notices involving 1,700 songs.

The lawsuit, filed in the Federal District Court in Nashville, alleges that Twitter has profited from millions of infringing copies of musical compositions, bolstering its business. This is in stark contrast to competitors such as TikTok and Instagram, which have struck music licensing deals to use copyrighted music legally. The NMPA is seeking penalties of up to $150,000 for each infringement, amounting to a staggering $250 million in potential fines.

Twitter has become a popular destination for multimedia content, with many users uploading videos that feature licensed music. The lawsuit highlights that Twitter's paid users have been allowed to upload two-hour-long videos, which has led to instances of fully copyrighted movies being uploaded on the platform. Interestingly, the NMPA's lawsuit also specifically refers to a tweet from Twitter CEO Elon Musk, in which he called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) "a plague on humanity."

While other social media platforms have taken the initiative to license music used on their services, Twitter has not. David Israelite, the president of the National Music Publishers’ Association, emphasized this in a statement to the LA Times, saying that Twitter "stands alone as the largest social media platform that has completely refused to license the millions of songs on its service." He added that it is no longer viable for Twitter to hide behind the DMCA and refuse to pay its dues to songwriters and music publishers.

This lawsuit comes at a crucial time for Twitter, as it seeks to maintain its position as a leading social media platform. The appointment of NBCU's Linda Yaccarino as CEO prompted a tweet from Israelite last month, urging her to address the issue of unlicensed music on the platform. As the legal battle unfolds, the consequences of this lawsuit could significantly impact Twitter's business and potentially push it to revise its current approach to handling copyrighted content.