PARIS, FRANCE – JUNE 16: Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of Twitter, Elon Musk … [+] attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre on June 16, 2023 in Paris, France. Elon Musk is visiting Paris for the VivaTech show where he gives a conference in front of 4,000 technology enthusiasts. He also took the opportunity to meet Bernard Arnaud, CEO of LVMH and the French President. Emmanuel Macron, who has already met Elon Musk twice in recent months, hopes to convince him to set up a Tesla battery factory in France, his pioneer company in electric cars. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)
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Get ready to rumble.
If you are Elon Musk, it’s time to wear a mouth guard, install a ring at your company headquarters, and suit up for the one thing that could bring the company to its knees: litigation. (That plus a potential actual fight with Mark Zuckerberg .)
Recently, music publishers have targeted the social media company with a $250 million lawsuit . The allegation against Twitter is that users have been able to stream music without the proper licensing. Since late 2021, the publishers claim they have sent over 300,000 notifications about how the platform has violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which protects music licensing.
The “free and open” nature of Twitter could be part of the problem. On Facebook, the minute you post a copyrighted song (usually, one that is more than 10-15 seconds long), you’ll see a notice and Facebook will mute the song or remove it.
Whatever governorship over music licensing and copyright that is happening at Facebook is obviously more advanced than Twitter’s protection. I find it annoying but, at the same time, can understand why Facebook does the gatekeeping.
At Twitter, an even larger issue is looming, though.
Recent reports about clashes with Google and Amazon over hosting fees are sure to backfire and lead to court battles. Like someone who decides they don’t want to pay rent anymore or wants to break out of their Netflix contract a bit earlier than expected, these clashes seem to be an indicator of Twitter’s financial health, a company now worth substantially less than it was when Musk took over .
As many of us have learned over the last year, Elon Musk is not afraid to make grand gestures and remove services he deems unnecessary.
It reminds me of a king or (ahem) a President who assumes control and makes radical changes without thinking through the potential damage that may cause. Yet, in this case, you would think cloud hosting would be important enough to keep around, and the relationships would be more valued than they are.
Litigation can impact even the largest and healthiest companies around. 3M recently settled a massive lawsuit for $12.5 billion over “forever chemicals” in contaminated water. Both Wells Fargo and Delta Air Lines have been sued over diversity claims .
This might be the cost of the “shoot from the hip” style Elon Musk has exhibited over the years. Even more than that, it’s the downside of trying to create an open social media platform, one that lets you say whatever you want without restrictions.
In the real world, that type of open network is going to lead to frequent lawsuits — above and beyond anything to do with Taylor Swift and music streaming. Meaning, lawsuits over mistreatment and misinformation; litigation over false promises and intent to harm; and, breaches of contract with major corporations.
In the end, there’s a reason companies have legal departments, that they don’t break contracts unless there is a very sound reason, and they cover themselves against data breaches and other problems.
Hopefully the lawsuits don’t come before Musk can figure out how to turn the company around and make Twitter worth having on our phones again. He might need the added revenue to keep things going.