Wixen Music Publishing is suing Meta for copyright infringement, claiming the social media giant continues to use hundreds of its copyrighted songs on Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp without permission.

The lawsuit, filed in California federal court last Thursday (January 23), claims Meta has “willfully” infringed the copyrights of over 330 musical works – including songs by The Doors, Weezer, Styx, The Black Keys, Missy Elliott and Townes Van Zandt – after the companies’ licensing agreement expired on December 10, 2025.

Los Angeles-based Wixen is seeking at least $49.65 million in statutory damages, plus additional compensation for claims of defamation and interference with its business relationships.

The complaint, which you can read in full here, alleges that Meta continues to make Wixen’s catalog available in its Music Library for users to add to Reels videos and other content, “resulting in thousands of audiovisual works incorporating [songs] without authorization or compensation”.

The music publisher has licensed its catalog to Meta since March 2018, but negotiations to renew the agreement broke down in 2025 after Meta allegedly “sought to drastically cut the license rates, to a small fraction of what Wixen and, therefore, Wixen’s clients, had received over the past seven years”.

According to the complaint, Meta’s platforms had 3 billion monthly active users on Instagram in 2024, with Facebook reaching that milestone by 2023. The lawsuit notes that “in October...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMi1AFBVV95cUxOYmlGdk1fOEdveHFidjdlRHNj...