**Update: Internet as we know it just died. Article 13 has been passed by EU Parliament which will be implemented soon by countries in the union. Want to know more about EU Directive head here.
It has been nicknamed the “meme-killing” law by many, which on the surface may sound absurd. After all, how can something as entertaining as memes be deemed illegal. Right?
However, two weeks ago, the European Parliament approved a controversial new directive that could drastically change how we use the Internet. Its supporters say the new legislation will protect creators of content and help them earn a living. Its opposers, on the other hand, say the results will actually lead to reduced creativity on the Internet and increase censorship to an unimaginable extreme.
The Copyright Directive was first proposed by the European Commission in 2016 and has received widespread backlash ever since. The legislation was rejected by the EU in July, but with Wednesday’s 438-226 vote in the European Parliament, tech giants will now have to incur serious costs, thanks to the new ruling.
What do the proposals entail?
Three parts of the legislation will have a big, disruptive impact on the Internet as we know it. Article 13 requires platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to adopt an upload filter for monitoring user submissions and ensuring the content doesn’t include copyrighted material. This article in particular is the meme-killer as adopting such an automated filter could potentially capture and block most memes even before they get rolling.
Article 11 would force companies like Google News to pay publishers for linking to their content. This could adversely affect small publishers that are dependent on Google News for traffic. For instance, when Spain asked Google to pay news outlets for indexing their stories on Google News, the search engine giant closed Google News in Spain. Since then, Spanish netizens visit their news websites directly to stay updated on the latest happenings in the country. Though this didn’t affect large publishers in Spain, small publishers have been withering.
Then we also have what’s called Article 12a, which would impact sports coverage, much to the dismay of avid sports lovers. Basically, it prevents everyone – besides the organizer of a sporting event – from posting a video, photo, or anything related to the match on the Internet. This could potentially include pictures of you and your friends in the stands of a sports match, or even videos of your favorite players on the field.
How can this result in censorship?
There are already many examples of how these filters can do more harm than any real good. It’s important to remember that algorithms can’t tell the difference between parody and real news, whether something is fair use or an infringement, or even if a video has been made for fun rather than earning money.
Take, for instance, YouTube which has invested a lot of time and resources on its Content ID system so that content creators can easily identity and manage their copyrighted works on the platform. Users who own copyrighted material upload their files to YouTube. All videos submitted to YouTube are scanned and analyzed against this database to see if they’re infringing copyrights.
Whenever a video that has copyright content is detected, its owner is notified. The copyright owners then decide the fate of that video – sometimes they let it go, and other times they’ll straightaway block it. While the system discussed above may not be identical to the proposal of the directive, you can see it still has faults.
When the EU Copyright Directive goes into effect, tech companies will have no other option but to implement upload filters that would scan all content before it’s allowed to see the light of the day. In fact, most probably won’t let you post anything at all – especially when it comes to memes as they contain images from third-parties.
The Debate Against and For the EU Copyright Directive
It doesn’t come as a surprise that the EU Copyright Directive has caused a huge out roar among people who enjoy using the Internet as it is today. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which has been fighting against the directive since the start, explained how imposing these filters may actually make life harder for content creators in a detailed tweet by special advisor Cory Doctorow:
In case you’re wondering: the #EU just voted to impose filters on all the text, audio, photos, videos, etc you might post. If you think this will help photographers or other creators, you don’t understand filters.
— son of an asylum seeker, father of an immigrant (@doctorow) September 12, 2018
The founder of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales and inventor of World Wide Web Tim Bernes-Lee, along with other Internet grandees and prominent technologists, signed an open letter on June 12 arguing against the law. They warned that these regulations will put an end to the open Internet and encourage automated surveillance and censorship.
Those in favor are some leading industry bodies representing content creators and producers, such as the Society of Authors and the Alliance for Intellectual Property and Proponents. Moreover, 84 European media and music organizations, including Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group, also publicly announced their support for the new directive.
How the Internet is reacting to the new law?
The ever-resilient folks of the Internet are raising the voice against the EU Copyright Directive in the most creative way possible. Yes, you guessed it right, by making more memes! Here are a few of our favorites:
I live in EU pic.twitter.com/MN4mVQASM8
— Meme Bot (@theMemesBot) September 12, 2018
EU: Memes are now illegal.
Me, drawing my own bootleg memes: pic.twitter.com/RIRTy4iotn
— Kasper ‘KVKH’ Hjorth (@KVKH93) September 13, 2018
Illegal memes hiding from EU copyright politzei (2018, colorized) #article13 #EuropeanUnion pic.twitter.com/ieAMpo5ekA
— The Slickest of Pimpsta’s (@Slick_Pimpsta) September 13, 2018
Since our European friends can’t meme anymore… #EUcopyright pic.twitter.com/7aBouKYS5Y
— W. Tyler Hunt 🐬 (3-0) (@WhatTheHunt) September 13, 2018
So, what’s next?
After being approved in the European Parliament, the Copyright Directive will now go to three-way negotiations between the European Commission, Council, and Parliament, who will finalize the wording of the legislation before it’s presented to the Legal Affairs Committee of the EU.
The Copyright Directive will then go back to the European Parliament to vote on the final text. Since this is just ahead of the European Parliament elections, MEPs could start listening to what constituents have to say regarding the new legislation as they consider the prospect of getting re-elected.
Unfortunately, all you can do now is keep spreading awareness about the EU Copyright Directive and hope that sanity prevails. Besides, the Internet would indeed be a gloomy and boring place without these memes making us laugh and brightening up our days!
Haris Shahid
November 24, 2022
1 year ago
