X sues music labels including Sony and Universal for 'excessively weaponizing DMCA takedown requests'

Since 2021, the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) has been sending a large number of DMCA takedown notices to X (then Twitter) regarding copyright infringement on X, which escalated into a lawsuit in 2023. While reports in 2025 indicated that the two parties were in the process of settling the matter, on January 9, 2026, X filed a new lawsuit alleging antitrust violations and other allegations.

Music Publishers Sued By X in Growing Licensing Battle
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/music/music-industry-news/x-sues-music-publishers-over-licensing-negotiations-1236468524/

X Sues Music Publishers Over 'Weaponized' DMCA Takedown Conspiracy * TorrentFreak
https://torrentfreak.com/x-sues-music-publishers-over-weaponized-dmca-takedown-conspiracy/

In June 2023, NMPA, representing multiple music labels including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Publishing, and Warner-Chappell Music, filed a lawsuit against X seeking $250 million in damages for failing to take appropriate measures regarding posts containing copyrighted music. As a result of the lawsuit, the court accepted some of NMPA's claims but dismissed most of the claims, limiting X's direct liability, and the lawsuit continued.

Progress in lawsuit against music label suing X (formerly Twitter) for copyright infringement - GIGAZINE

Subsequently, settlement negotiations between NMPA and X progressed, and as of November 25, 2025, it was reported that they had made 'significant progress toward settlement and were working on drafting a written settlement agreement,' and that they were seeking a stay of the litigation proceedings.

However, X filed a lawsuit in a Texas federal court on January 9, 2026. The complaint accuses 'more than a dozen music publishers and their trade association, the NMPA, of conspiring to force platforms to purchase industry-wide licenses.'

According to X, the NMPA threatened to launch a program to send takedown notices to Twitter in 2021, 'more massive than any previous initiative.' Since then, thousands of DMCA takedown notices have been sent every week, resulting in the suspension of approximately 50,000 users' accounts due to a total of more than 200,000 'baseless' DMCA notices. X pointed out that this was an 'attack to coerce the entire music industry into signing licensing agreements,' and described it as 'the weaponization of the DMCA to enforce licensing agreements rather than copyright protection.'

As an example of the impact of the takedown campaign, X cited a video he filmed of a high school sports awards ceremony. The video featured a short piece of background music playing during the ceremony. The video was removed after a DMCA takedown notice was issued due to the music. X stated, 'Although there is no reasonable basis for censoring this video, which focuses on the achievements of high school athletes, based on the minimal non-commercial use of the music within the video, Defendants' tactics forced X to remove the video.'

X also takes issue with the fact that major music publishers have not agreed to individual licenses. Users who include music from publishers with which they do not have licensing agreements in their posts risk having their accounts suspended. X argues that in order to prevent this, users cannot negotiate individual licenses with music publishers to obtain licenses, and are forced to enter into more expensive licensing agreements with the music industry as a whole, which violates antitrust and unfair competition laws.

X is seeking unspecified damages from the NMPA and various music publishers, as well as a court order requiring them to negotiate individual licenses.