Elon Musk’s X Sues NMPA, 18 Publishers as Licensing Dispute Widens

The platform alleges collusion and anti-competitive behavior

Elon Musk’s X has filed the latest salvo in its battle with music publishers over licensing, suing 18 publishers and the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) for anti-competitive behavior.

The details:

In a lawsuit filed on Friday, X alleges the companies – which include Sony Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music and Universal Music Publishing Group – and the NMPA colluded to force X into purchasing industrywide licenses at unjustly elevated rates.
X claims it is being prevented from negotiating deals with individual publishers.
X is seeking a court order enabling it to negotiate individual deals, and unspecified damages.

Prior form:

In 2023 the NMPA filed a lawsuit against X over alleged mass copyright infringement.
Despite a late-2025 announcement that the case was close to being settled, the two have yet to come to terms as X claims music publishers refuse to negotiate individual deals, leading to this countersuit.

What they said:

David Israelite, NMPA President-CEO: “X/Twitter is the only major social media company that does not license the songs on its platform. We allege that X has engaged in copyright infringement for years, and its meritless lawsuit is a bad faith effort to distract from publishers’ and songwriters’ legitimate right to enforce against X’s illegal use of their songs.”

The details:

In a lawsuit filed on Friday, X alleges the companies – which include Sony Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music and Universal Music Publishing Group – and the NMPA colluded to force X into purchasing industrywide licenses at unjustly elevated rates.
X claims it is being prevented from negotiating deals with individual publishers.
X is seeking a court order enabling it to negotiate individual deals, and unspecified damages.

Prior form:

In 2023 the NMPA filed a lawsuit against X over alleged mass copyright infringement.
Despite a late-2025 announcement that the case was close to being settled, the two have yet to come to terms as X claims music publishers refuse to negotiate individual deals, leading to this countersuit.

What they said:

David Israelite, NMPA President-CEO: “X/Twitter is the only major social media company that does not license the songs on its platform. We allege that X has engaged in copyright infringement for years, and its meritless lawsuit is a bad faith effort to distract from publishers’ and songwriters’ legitimate right to enforce against X’s illegal use of their songs.”

The details:

In a lawsuit filed on Friday, X alleges the companies – which include Sony Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music and Universal Music Publishing Group – and the NMPA colluded to force X into purchasing industrywide licenses at unjustly elevated rates.
X claims it is being prevented from negotiating deals with individual publishers.
X is seeking a court order enabling it to negotiate individual deals, and unspecified damages.

Prior form:

In 2023 the NMPA filed a lawsuit against X over alleged mass copyright infringement.
Despite a late-2025 announcement that the case was close to being settled, the two have yet to come to terms as X claims music publishers refuse to negotiate individual deals, leading to this countersuit.

What they said:

David Israelite, NMPA President-CEO: “X/Twitter is the only major social media company that does not license the songs on its platform. We allege that X has engaged in copyright infringement for years, and its meritless lawsuit is a bad faith effort to distract from publishers’ and songwriters’ legitimate right to enforce against X’s illegal use of their songs.”

👋 Disclosures & Transparency Block

This story was written with information from Variety and Digital Music News.
We covered it because it’s an update to the ongoing licensing dispute between X and the NMPA.