The ratings are demanding hundreds of millions from Twitter in unpaid rights

Major music companies are demanding hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid rights from Twitter, accusing the social network of not doing enough against the unwarranted use of songs on its platform.

“Twitter is the only major social network that consistently refuses to make deals to use millions of songs,” David Israelit, executive director of the American Music Publishers Association (NMPA), commented in a response sent to AFP.

According to him, the leaders of the Blue Bird group “know very well that music is posted, released and listened to by millions of people every day on its platform.”

The publishers deplored Twitter’s slowness in removing posted music content without permission, delays of “often weeks,” and “sometimes more,” according to a document filed Wednesday in federal court in Nashville, Tennessee.

At the same time, the company uses this content to attract netizens and monetize tweets including music through ads, and argues with labels, including Universal, Sony or Warner.

They are asking the courts to order Twitter to stop these practices and pay $150,000 for each piece used without permission.

After thousands of tweets are noticed by publishers, the bill can be several hundred million dollars.

Twitter no longer has a press service and responded to AFP’s request with a vulgar emoji.

All the other major social networks, from Snapchat to YouTube, have entered into revenue-sharing agreements with music publishers that allow internet users to use songs in their videos or messages without exposing themselves to being removed from the platform under consideration.