- Four companies filed a class-action suit against Twitter, accusing it of failing to pay some bills.
- They said that Twitter has approved the invoices but they don't know when or even if they'll be paid.
Several more companies are suing Twitter, alleging that it has failed to pay some of its bills.
In the proposed class-action lawsuit filed April 4 in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, the companies accused Twitter of not paying around $230,000 in bills.
It's not the first time Twitter has been sued by companies claiming that their bills have gone unpaid. The allegations range from unpaid invoices to marketing companies for branded merchandise to rent for Twitter's offices. Since Elon Musk took over Twitter in late November, he's been on a cost-cutting spree. As well as laying off the majority of the social-media company's workforce, cutting back on free food, and auctioning off Twitter merchandise,
Tuesday's lawsuit was filed by captioning services company White Coat Captioning; leadership coaching provider and consulting company YES Consulting; and Cancomm, doing business in the US as Dialogue and in Mexico as Dialogue Mèxico, which collectively form an international PR and communications firm.
"Plaintiffs are concerned that Twitter has no intention of paying the amounts owed to them under their contracts and by law," the lawsuit said. The company has engaged Shannon Liss-Riordan, the attorney who is representing hundreds of laid-off Twitter employees. CNN first reported on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit said Twitter owed White Coat Captioning more than $41,000 for ten approved and overdue invoices, which it has acknowledged receiving and approving but hasn't said if or when it will pay. The company had provided Twitter with real-time captioning services throughout 2022, the lawsuit said.
Twitter also owed YES Consulting around $49,000 for three approved and overdue invoices related to leadership training provided between August and November, despite repeated attempts by the consulting company to secure the payments, the lawsuit said.
Per the lawsuit, Twitter additionally owes Dialogue about $140,000 for eight approved and overdue invoices for PR and communications services provided throughout Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Argentina across November and December, the lawsuit said.
"Elon Musk told employees that if vendors wanted to get paid, they should sue. So we're suing," Liss-Riordan told Insider in a statement. "It's shameful that Elon Musk is bullying not only employees, but small businesses as well, by refusing to pay them unless they take legal action. Businesses, like employees, should not have to sue to get paid what they're owed."
The four companies are suing Twitter for breach of contract and have asked for a trial by jury.
Twitter did not respond to Insider's request for comment.