The European Parliament has approved the reform of copyright: how the Internet will change

The European Parliament has approved the new directive on copyright on the Internet. This is an initiative badyzed since 2016 and subject to various debates. Today, finally, it was approved after getting 348 votes against 274.

The most controversial articles are Articles 11 and 13. The first is known as "tax per link" and allows publishers and the media to charge aggregators or search engines such as Google or Facebook, for example, for the content they download on their platforms. They will only be exempted if they reproduce "some excerpts or words" from the portals.

This initiative has mainly counted, with the support of various means of communication, which allow to balance their balance, because they will be able to charge them to large platforms for the distribution of their content.

For its part, Article 13, known as "the same anti" or "download filters", establishes that all sites and applications where users may publish audiovisual material or music must make every effort to avoid the downloading of unauthorized copies of copyrighted works.

It is called "download filter" because it is believed that to comply with these guidelines, platforms should include automatic content filters. Critics of this directive say that this would limit freedom of expression.

This article has also been baptized "anti meme" because it is not clear if the memes, which are generally based on images on which there are author rights, would be affected by this change of direction. Some say they would be excepted because they would be considered parodies.

In any case, everything will depend on how the norm is interpreted and regulated. To date, European countries have up to two years to regulate these new directives.

The sites most affected by this regulation would be sites such as YouTube or any other social network that allows users to download content. These platforms should implement mechanisms to prevent the publication of copyrighted content.

This new directive has been welcomed by the Vice President of the European Commission Digital Single Market. "This vote on copyright is a big step forward – it ends with fragmentation, a big step forward for the completion of the digital single market." for the future of artificial intelligence, "he has posted on his Twitter account.

Those who support these initiatives consistently point out that this will help protect content creators and creators, as it will contribute to a more equitable distribution of advertising revenues that, according to all media, is focused on the major platforms.

MEP Julia Reda, who campaigned for these legislative reforms not to be approved, said on her social network that it was "a dark day for freedom of the internet".

For its part, the official report of Google Europe indicates that, if the Copyright Directive has improved, it will create legal uncertainty and harm the digital and creative economies in Europe.

"The details are important, we hope to work with lawmakers, publishers, creators and rights holders, as well as with the member states of the European Union to implement these new rules", have they added.