A new European Union bill requiring outdated copyright laws to be updated has ficially been approved. After two years debate, the controversial bill intended to bring the issue copyright in line with the digital age is nearing a close.
The issue outdated copyright laws placed artists and creativity firmly against the freedom Big Tech. With the increasing power Big Tech artists are without a doubt more vulnerable. To put it into comparison, YouTube pays music companies 20 times less than a “fairly licensed service” such as Spotify. After all is said and done, this is a massive ripf for artists.
Two the most controversial pieces this legislature were Articles 11 & 13. Article 11 would require internet companies such as Facebook and Google to pay newspapers, magazines and agencies for posting links their work. They call this the “link tax”, but proponents the law say this won’t happen. Article 13 would make platforms such as YouTube liable for copyrighted material, requiring them to have agreements with rights holders music and film and essentially protecting the artists.
Critics say the law with normalize censorship and restrict freedom, banning regular people from posting things like links or even memes. Essentially it requires all social media to scan all uploads for copyright as it is uploaded, and you can imagine how much that will ruin the web.
What’s next? Well, the European Parliament meets again in January to hash out the final details the updated Copyright Laws. Stay tuned to see what further amendments will impact this debate.
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