EU Passes Article 13 That Might See The End Of Memes As We Know It
MEPs have passed the controversial article 13 that will see major changes to copyright regulation online and may change the way we use the internet.
This article will mean that technology companies will be responsible for copyright content that is posted on their sites.
Two articles have been seen as controversial, article 11 and article 13. Article 11 states that search engines should pay to use links from news articles, and article 13 states that technology companies will be rendered liable for content posted on their sites that have no copyright license.
It is feared that under article 13, memes posted on such websites like Twitter or Facebook will be banned, therefore ridding of memes from our lives forever. Although, the European Union has said that 'parody' content has an exception to the rule, which means some memes and short-lived video content (gifs) won't fall under the new legislation and will hopefully be saved.
A lot of major tech companies like Twitter, YouTube and Reddit have shown their disinterest in the new laws, hoping they won't come into effect, where artists and musicians have welcomed the new legislation as it will mean they will make more money off the royalties of their work when used online.
"The platforms need to have a responsibility and we want to give them that responsibility to deal responsibly with copyrighted content where the rights-holders are not those platforms,” Axel Voss, an MEP
A spokesperson from Google has said the new legislation will "lead to legal uncertainty and will hurt Europe's creative and digital economies."
This may lead to hard times for meme fans and creators, and may very well change the internet as we know it forever.
European member states will have to decide amongst themselves whether they want to adopt the legislation into law.