Music Publisher Sues Twitter For Violation Of Copyright With Claims Of IDR 3.7 Trillion

NMPA President David Israelite, sued Twitter. (photo: Instagram @diselite)

JAKARTA - A group of 17 music publishers sued Twitter in Nashville federal court, Tennessee on Wednesday, June 14. They accused the micro blogging platform of allowing thousands of copyright infringements by allowing users to post music without a license.

So far Twitter has gained user involvement with "many copies of the violation of musical composition," the lawsuit said.

Members of the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA), including Sony Music Publishing, BMG Rights Management, and Universal Music Publishing Group, demanded more than US$250 million (Rp3.7 trillion) in compensation for alleged copyright infringement.

The lawsuit states that the offenses that have been going on for a long time have gotten worse since Elon Musk bought Twitter in October. Meanwhile, other platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube obtained the right music licenses from publishers.

Twitter has not yet responded to requests for comment from the media on the allegations.

"Twitter stands alone as the largest social media platform to absolutely refuse to license millions of songs on its service," NMPA President David Israelite said in a statement.

The lawsuit claims that Twitter "routinely ignores" repeated violations by users posting tweets containing unlicensed music. Publishers say that Twitter is pushing for abuses by users, which increase engagement and ad revenue while providing "unfair gain" compared to other platforms that pay for music licenses.

" Twitter's internal issues related to relevant issues in this case are in chaos," the publishers said, noting the deep cuts to the legal team and the company's trust-and-security since Musk took over.