IFPI says Twitter not licensed to play music shared by IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad

On June 25, IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad account was locked for around an hour over
copyright violation. He informed that twitter denied him access to his account for an hour over
complaints that he violated copyright law by posting clips from television debates.
As per Twitter Ravi Shankar Prasad violated the US digital millennium copyright act. But later
on, Twitter unlocked his account. Information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that
the action of Twitter is against the rules of IT. He did not receive any notice or letter from
Twitter before locking the account. He also added that this kind of behaviour by Twitter clearly
shows that Twitter does not want to follow new rules.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the reason behind Twitter Inc.
briefly locked the account of Union IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad last week, said the US-
based microblogging platform had not taken a “license for music content” that users could post,
unlike other social media platforms such as Facebook or YouTube. Further, they added that IFPI
is not responsible for what twitter did.
Such kind of situation may also occur in future, So To prevent such situations in future, Twitter
should take a license for user content uploaded on its platform, which will make sure that “Indian
songwriters, artists and producers are being fairly rewarded,” IFPI said.
IFPI filed a complaint on behalf of Sony Music Leisure for Prasad’s 2017 tweet of a video that
includes music director A R Rahman’s Maa Tujhe Salam as background rating. Prasad’s video
was posted on different social media accounts recall of Fb and still can be accessed on all social
media accounts. It was a tribute to the Indian Military on the anniversary of the 1971 Bangladesh
battle.
IFPI is not directly involved in the actions that Twitter takes as a result of its notifications, it
said.
We believe that the best way to avoid these situations in the future is for Twitter to take a license
for the content uploaded onto its platform. This would ensure – as with other platforms – users are
free to upload and enjoy music content in the knowledge that Indian songwriters, artists and
producers are being fairly rewarded,” it further added.