As part of the European Union’s overhaul of its copyright rules, Brussels could force online giants Facebook and Google to closely police contents uploaded to their platforms. The reform, which was first proposed in September 2016, could eventually lead to a ban on memes, a typically humorous video or photo shares on social media. Online platforms fear they could be forced to install so-called upload filters in order to comply with the draconian changes to Brussels policy, which could also act as a crackdown on news websites.
Catherine Stihler, a centre-left MEP who sits on the EU Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer protection committee, warned her colleagues about the bloc’s potential crackdown.
“There’s great truth to that agreement, that we could be banning memes,” she told fellow MEPs.
Romania was forced to reschedule negotiations planned for Monday evening after the holder of EU’s rotating presidency failed to secure a majority of member states supportive of the new negotiating mandate.
Ms Stihler added: “I have never seen a negotiation quite like this in my 20 years of being in parliament.
“The way things are going does not bode well for this to be concluded in any shape or form at the end of this mandate.”
She argued there is not sufficient time to amend and conclude the EU’s copyright laws because of the upcoming Euro elections in May.
“That may not be a bad thing,” she said. “My kids look at that and think: how can you possibly even be thinking about banning memes.”
Google has also warned Brussels it will pull its news service from Europe if eurocrats press on with rules that hand publishers the rights to demand money from online platforms when small fragments of their articles show up in search results or shared by users.
Jennifer Bernal, Google’s public policy manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said the firm would be forced to pull out the service from Europe unless changes are made to the planned rules.
The internet giant argues that it doesn’t make money from its news service so would not take any financial hit from withdrawal it.
Google News is often used by the firm to ensure mobile users keep returning to their search engine.
The firm closed its news service in Spain in 2014 after the country passed a law requiring Spanish publications to charge news aggregators for displaying fragments of their stories.
Publishers must claim compensation for the reuse of small excerpts whether they agree with the law or not.
According to a 2017 study by the Spanish Association of Publishers of Periodical Publications, the Spanish law caused small publishers to lose around 13 percent of their web traffic.
The study estimated the changes cost firms around £8 million.
“The vast majority of Spanish publishers consider Google’s decision insignificant”, said Wout van Wijk, executive director at News Media Europe, an umbrella organisation representing various national publishers’ associations.
He added that other news aggregators had struck licensing deals after Google fled the market.
“Limiting publishers’ freedom in this way will result in detrimental consequences for us, as shown by a similar experience in Spain,” European Innovative Media Publishers said in an October letter to EU politicians.
Google warns the EU law would force which publishers to strike licensing deals with, potentially cutting smaller businesses out of the equation.
“It’s unlikely any business will be able to license every single news publisher in the European Union, especially given the very broad definition being proposed,” Richard Gingras, Google’s head of news, wrote in a blog published in December.