Article 13: Politicians vote in favor of EU's controversial copyright law - CNET

Protesters march against the EU Copyright Directive in Leipzig, Germany this weekend.

Peter Endig/picture alliance via Getty Images

The European Parliament on Tuesday voted in favor of adopting a controversial new law that will bring sweeping reforms to how copyrighted content posted online is governed. The legislation was adopted with 348 votes in favor and 274 against.

For proponents of digital rights, the decision by politicians will come as a huge blow after over a year of campaigning for what they perceive as the upholding of the integrity of the internet. MEP Julia Reda, one of the most vocal critics of the directive said on Twitter that the vote signalled a "dark day for internet freedom.

Years in the making, the EU Copyright Directive has been heavily debated and divisive among politicians, as well as aggravating the wider tech industry. One part of the proposal in particular -- Article 13, which will govern the way copyrighted content is uploaded to the internet -- has many in the tech community throwing their hands up in despair.

Article 13 dictates that anyone sharing copyrighted content must get permission from rights owners -- or at least have made the best possible effort to get permission -- before doing so. But this doesn't just mean full songs, movies, TV shows and images. It also means gifs, memes and screenshots.

In order to enforce this, internet platforms will be forced to use upload filters to evaluate anything they put online. Even the wealthiest online services such as Facebook and YouTube, which have spent years developing this technology, haven't been able to prove pre-moderation of content is a foolproof method for preventing content from surfacing online that shouldn't be there.

Ahead of the vote on Tuesday, EU Commissioner for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip pointed out that nothing in the text of the legislation stipulates the use of upload filters. But it's hard to imagine a way in which tech platforms and social networks could otherwise realistically comply with the rules.

The concern is that the legislation will lead to a far more locked-down and less creative version of the internet as we know it today. It may also stymie competition between internet platforms, as only the biggest and wealthiest may be able to afford to comply with the legislation.

A second section of the directive, Article 11, which says search engines and news aggregators will be charged to display snippets of news they're linking to (known as a link tax), is also frustrating tech companies.

Back in January, Google said it may have to pull its news service from Europe entirely if the directive passes in its current state. Screenshots captured by Search Engine Land showed how Google news results could appear in Europe if Google doesn't pay the tax (spoiler alert: they're just a bunch of empty boxes). Google didn't immediately respond to a request for comment following the outcome of the vote.

Before the text can be adopted in European law it must next be approved by the Council of the European Union. A vote is expected to take place on April 9.

https://www.cnet.com/news/article-13-eus-controversial-copyright-law-due-for-final-vote/