X accuses music publishers of ‘weaponizing’ DMCA takedowns

X is suing the music publishers and their trade group, the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), accusing them of reportedly trying to coerce their ongoing battle over licensing. earlier before Hollywood Reporter. The Elon Musk-owned platform accuses music publishers of colluding with the NMPA to “force X to obtain licenses for music works from the industry as a whole, depriving X of the benefit of competition among music publishers.”

in The antitrust lawsuit was filed FridayX claims that the NMPA and music publishers “weaponized” the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) with requests to remove allegedly infringing content. The lawsuit alleges that in 2021, NMPA began “bombarding X with takedown notices every week related to thousands of posts,” in order to “gain leverage and pressure X” into industry-wide licensing deals.

X faced copyright and piracy issues after Musk acquired it. In 2023, for example, in full Super Mario Bros movie Keep posting in X.

The filing is the latest wrinkle in a years-long legal battle between X and the NMPA, which sued X for $250 million in 2023 Due to “massive” copyright infringements It includes more than 1,700 songs.. Judge It upheld parts of the lawsuit that are still pending in 2024, and a November 2025 filing said that X and the NMPA “made very significant progress toward settlement,” according to Hollywood Reporter.

X is asking the court for monetary damages and for the judge to prevent the NMPA from forcing