In a dramatic legal escalation, Elon Musk's social media company, X Corp, has launched a major antitrust lawsuit against 18 of the world's largest music publishers and a leading industry association. The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Texas, accuses them of conspiring to block competition and force X into paying inflated rates for music licenses.
Allegations of a Coordinated Conspiracy
The complaint, filed on Friday, names prominent entities like the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), Sony Music, Universal Music, and Warner Chappell. X Corp alleges that these publishers, representing over 90% of U.S. copyrighted music, joined forces through the NMPA to refuse individual licensing negotiations. This move, according to X, was a deliberate strategy to eliminate competitive pricing.
"X has been denied the ability to acquire a U.S. musical-composition license from any individual music publisher on competitive terms," the lawsuit states. The platform argues this collective action violates federal antitrust laws designed to promote fair competition.
Pressure Tactics and Platform Impact
X detailed the severe operational impact of this alleged conspiracy. The company claims publishers flooded the platform with weekly takedown notices, targeting thousands of posts containing copyrighted music. This included content from high-profile accounts, applying immense pressure on X to accept industry-wide licensing terms dictated by the group.
The consequences for the platform were significant. To comply, X says it was forced to remove thousands of posts and suspend more than 50,000 users. This aggressive moderation, the lawsuit contends, directly harmed the platform's user engagement and its crucial advertising revenue.
Legal Battle and Broader Context
This lawsuit is the latest chapter in an ongoing feud between X and the music publishing industry. In a related case from 2023, 17 publishers, including Sony and Universal, had sued X for copyright infringement over nearly 1,700 songs, seeking damages exceeding $250 million. However, in 2024, X successfully won the dismissal of most claims in that earlier lawsuit.
Interestingly, X's new filing reveals that following that partial victory, some of the same publishers showed a willingness to negotiate settlements on individual terms. This latest antitrust action seeks to restore competitive conditions in music licensing and secure compensation for X's lost advertising revenue. As of now, the National Music Publishers’ Association and the major publishers named have not issued public comments on the fresh allegations.
