The European Parliament’s controversial copyright law has officially been shot down after much debate between internet giants and content creators alike. While the proposed legislation aimed to refresh copyright laws for a digital age, it was rejected in a 318-278 vote because of some glaring issues.
What’s known as the Copyright Directive was intended to modernize copyright laws. High-profile music stars including David Guetta backed the change wholeheartedly, hoping the new law would protect them from being exploited and their art from being used without permission.
Opponents argued that the new rules would stifle internet freedom and creativity. Two parts in particular, Article 11 and Article 13, weren’t sitting well with voters. The first would have introduced a “link tax” to protect news organizations and the other put a great responsibility on websites to enforce copyright laws (i.e. filters on text, images, sounds, videos, etc.).
There were concerns that copyright filters would put an end to viral internet content like memes and remixes, which tend to use copyrighted material. And let’s be real — who wants to surf an internet where these types of things don’t exist?
Read more on this topic via BBC News:
Why the copyright plan was so controversial.
Copyright law could put end to memes
