SIC News | The controversial article 13: what is at stake?

"Social networks like Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, whatever, will lead to restrictions and will probably be blocked." And many people say that it is the end of the Internet and I agree, "warns the youtuber.

According to Wuant, the alarm went off when he received an email from YouTube, in which restrictions could be imposed if the proposal was approved.

"Imagine an Internet in which your videos can no longer be seen Imagine an Internet without its favorite creators Imagine an Internet in which new artists are never discovered.

The vote in favor of "Article 13" took place in September, two months after the call of the deputies, but the proposal will be voted again in January 2019.in the European Parliament. This measure is part of a proposed copyright law in the EU to protect creativity.

More, the proposal has been the subject of several controversiesbecause platforms and social networks will have mechanisms that prevent the publication of images or videos protected by copyright.

For example, Wuant explains that a user may not be able to publish a photo of Shrek (Dreamworks character) because it is protected by copyright and may therefore be processed.

YouTube goes even further in email when it says that the article "will prevent millions of people in Europe from downloading content on platforms such as YouTube" and that "European visitors would lose access to billions of videos around the world".

Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, and Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, have already wondered about the wording of the article, saying that the Internet would become an automated monitoring tool to control users. .

On the other hand, musicians like Paul McCartney, Ennio Morricone and record companies are in favor of this legislation. The authors argue for the need to create mechanisms to protect the content they create.

In order to facilitate the release of the copyright, the proposal makes responsible video and social networks to filter the content.

In a statement, the spokesperson of the European Parliament said: "Many amendments to the initial proposal of the European Commission aim to ensure that artists, including musicians, performers and writers, as well as editors Newspapers and journalists are paid for their work when used by sharing platforms such as Youtube or Facebook and news aggregators such as Google News. "

He further admitted that "Article 13" was the subject of debate. However, he assured that "When the dust settles, the Internet will remain as free as it is today.creators and journalists will gain a fairer share of the revenue generated by their works and we will ask ourselves the reason for all the fuss. "

If the article is approved, platforms like Youtube and social networks will be held responsible for any infringement of copyright.