X Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Major Music Publishers and NMPA

X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, has filed an antitrust lawsuit against several major music publishers and their trade group, the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA).

The lawsuit was filed on January 9 and claims that the publishers and the NMPA illegally worked together to pressure X into buying industry-wide music licenses at unfairly high prices. Without these licenses, social media platforms can face copyright claims for hosting posts that include music.

What X Is Alleging

According to the lawsuit, the publishers and the NMPA used their combined market power to force X to accept blanket licensing deals rather than allowing competition between individual music publishers. X says this behavior amounts to illegal collusion and an abuse of monopoly power.

The lawsuit names the world’s three largest music publishers:

• Sony Music Publishing

• Universal Music Publishing Group

• Warner Chappell Music

X argues that these companies acted together to deny it the chance to negotiate fair and competitive licensing terms.

Long-Running Dispute

This legal fight follows a long dispute between X and music publishers. In 2023, the NMPA sued X, claiming the platform had infringed copyrights on more than 1,700 songs.

Last November, both sides came close to settling the dispute and reportedly made significant progress on a written agreement. However, the deal ultimately fell through.

NMPA Responds

NMPA president and CEO David Israelite rejected X’s claims, saying that X is the only major social media platform that does not properly license music.

He said the lawsuit is an attempt to distract from what publishers describe as years of copyright infringement on the platform. According to Israelite, music publishers and songwriters have a legal right to protect their work.

DMCA Takedown Dispute

X’s lawyers also accuse the publishers of misusing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which governs copyright takedown requests.

The lawsuit claims that Israelite warned X that if it refused to buy a blanket license, the NMPA would send takedown notices “on a scale larger than any previous effort in DMCA history.” X says this could have forced the platform to label popular users as “repeat infringers,” which could require their accounts to be terminated under the law.

After X refused to agree to the licenses, the platform says it received over 200,000 takedown requests in the first year, many of which it claims were for content that did not actually infringe copyright. X says it is still receiving hundreds of pages of takedown notices nearly every week.

What Happens Next

The case adds another chapter to the ongoing conflict between X and the music industry. The outcome could have major implications for how social media platforms license music and how much power large publishers can exercise over online services.