X Sues Music Publishers and NMPA Over Alleged Coercion and Licensing Disputes
January 9, 2026
X, the platform owned by Elon Musk, has initiated a lawsuit against music publishers and the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), accusing them of attempted coercion in their ongoing licensing dispute. The lawsuit, reported earlier by The Hollywood Reporter, claims that the NMPA and its affiliated publishers colluded to pressure X into acquiring industry-wide licenses for musical works, thereby eliminating competition among music publishers.
In the legal filing dated Friday, X alleges that the NMPA and publishers manipulated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by repeatedly issuing takedown notices to the platform. These notices, which began flooding X in 2021 with requests to remove thousands of posts, are said to have been used as leverage to force X into licensing arrangements that benefit the industry at the expense of fair competition.
Since Elon Musk’s takeover, X has faced ongoing challenges with copyright infringement and piracy. Notably, in 2023, the platform was flooded with posts of the entire Super Mario Bros. movie, illustrating the scale of copyright issues it contends with.
This lawsuit adds another chapter to a lengthy legal saga between X and the NMPA. Previously, the NMPA filed a $250 million lawsuit against X in 2023, accusing the platform of widespread copyright infringement involving over 1,700 songs. A judge upheld parts of that case in early 2024, and as of November 2025, both sides have reported making significant progress toward settlement.
X seeks monetary damages and requests the court to prohibit the NMPA from pressuring the platform into collective negotiations with industry publishers, asserting that such actions hinder fair competition.
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