17 music publishers, including Concord Music Group and Universal Music Corp., have accused the social media network of mass copyright infringement
ADVERTISEMENTTwitter is facing a lawsuit which could cost it up to $250 million (approximately €230m).
A collection of music publishers have accused the social media network of mass copyright infringement, shortly after new CEO Linda Yaccarino took the reins.
A total of seventeen music publishers, among them Concord Music Group and Universal Music Corp., are seeking damages over Twitter’s alleged copyright infringement of approximately 1,700 songs.
A court filing claims Twitter bosses “knowingly facilitated and profited from” the music and are seeking damages of up to $150,000 - or about €139,000 - for every individual piece of content as well as further damages to be determined at a future trial.
The publishers have accused Twitter of “handsomely” profiting from audio-visual posts they apparently used to attract users and impressions from advertisements on the site.
The lawsuit is another blow to the social media platform and its finances. Twitter has recently experienced a number of significant fiscal shocks and, in March, owner Elon Musk said the company was recovering after a 50% decline in ad revenue since he took over.
This situation is not unprecedented, though. Other social media platforms such as TikTok, Snap, Facebook and YouTube have existing agreements in place with music publishers; Youtube alone paid some $6 billion - or €5.55 billion - to the music industry from July 2021 to June 2022.
This is a breaking story and will continue to be updated.
