Social-media platform Triller has faced various lawsuits from music rightsholders over royalty payments in recent years. Merlin is another of the litigants, and now it has won a default judgement in its case.
Triller has been ordered to pay the indie licensing agency more than $3.2m in the case, which began with Merlin’s lawsuit in March 2025 alleging a breach of the two companies’ licensing deal.
The judgement adds to Triller’s ongoing headaches, which go further than music-industry lawsuits. The company has been battling to avoid being delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange since last year.
Once touted (admittedly mainly by itself) as a TikTok-killer, Triller’s parent company recently rebranded as Eight Holdings, which its CEO said “better reflects the diversified, monetization-focused platform we’re building across social, sports, and financial services”.
How is that monetisation going? The company’s last annual report revealed no revenues at all from social media or sports streaming in 2025, and $21.6m from financial services.
The report also revealed “liabilities in the amount of approximately $30.0 million for unpaid amounts owed under its music licenses”.
