Twitter Faces Lawsuits from Service Providers Over Payment Obligations

A Bloomberg report indicated that Twitter is facing lawsuits from several service providers, accusing the platform of evading the payment of its obligations. These lawsuits contradict the claims of the platform’s new owner, Elon Musk, who says that the platform’s financial conditions have recently been on the way to recovery. According to “Bloomberg”, the services of companies, which are claiming their dues today, vary between public relations consulting and marketers of services bearing the “Twitter” brand, according to lawsuits documented in court records.

Norma Miller, owner of White Coat Capping, said that the platform stopped paying its obligations to her company last October, about two weeks after Elon Musk acquired the platform. After the accounting staff apologized for the late payments, the employee in charge of the file disappeared during a period that saw large numbers of job cuts “at the beginning of Musk’s leadership of the company.” Since that time, the company’s responses have been limited to notices confirming that its messages have been received, without Miller receiving any actual response to its demands.

As a result, “Bloomberg” indicates that, during the month of April, four companies resorted to filing joint lawsuits to terminate their work contracts with Twitter, due to the platform’s delay in paying dues. While 10 companies had decided since last December to sue the company on similar charges. The companies say the late payments appear to be related to Musk’s chaotic leadership of the company, citing the sudden turn in the company’s actions immediately after Musk’s acquisition.

However, some facts confirm that this delay in payment may be related to some financial difficulties, not just administrative ones. According to press reports, in December and January, Twitter refused to pay rent for its headquarters in San Francisco, which prompted Sri Nine Market Square LLC, the company that owns the building, to file a lawsuit in California State Court. The lawsuit indicated that the social media company did not pay the rental value of $3.36 million for the month of December for its offices at 1355 Market Street, and the amount of $3.42 million for rent for the month of January.

Earlier this year, the British company, The Crown Estate, filed a lawsuit against Twitter over the platform’s failure to pay rents for its offices in London. The platform was later forced to settle with the British company, in return for withdrawing the lawsuit, according to a company spokesperson.

All of these developments may be related to the company’s financial position after its acquisition by Elon Musk. Since that time, the company’s advertising revenue has fallen by 50%, due to investors’ concern that Musk’s actions could negatively affect their reputation. Twitter Blue also failed to attract users, some of whom are frustrated by the growth of hate speech and misinformation on the platform. So far, Twitter Blue’s current subscribers have not exceeded 1% of the platform’s total monthly users.