Copyright is a legal right protecting creators’ work once an idea has been expressed. Yesterday, a change to these laws was voted in by the European Parliament – called Article 13. But critics claim this could change the face of the internet so what does this mean for sharing sites like Youtube?
Article 13 includes a controversial Copyright Directive making major online platforms including YouTube, Twitch, Google and Facebook legally responsible for whatever is uploaded.
Few dispute creators deserve credit for their hard work and that Silicon Valley giants are in need of regulation.
But sites such as YouTube have argued Article 13 fails to address either of these issues.
Companies will either have to pay other tech giants for any copyright-infringing content, or large amounts of any media may have to be deleted that crosses the line.
Sites such as YouTube and Twitch could be among the worst hit as a significant proportion of YouTube content, for example, sees creators regularly using content appropriating copyrighted footage.
YouTube has been explicit in its condemnation, writing: “Article 13 threatens hundreds of thousands of jobs, European creators, businesses, artists and everyone they employ.”
The fear is the passage would turn hosting regular people’s content into a bottomless abyss of risks.
Susan Wojcicki, YouTube’s CEO said: “The proposal could force platforms, like YouTube, to allow only content from a small number of large companies.
“It would be too risky for platforms to host content from smaller original content creators, because the platforms would now be directly liable for that content.”
And Twitch warned last year it “could be forced to impose filters and monitoring measures on all works uploaded by residents of the EU.”
This would require streamers to “provide copyright ownership information, clearances, or take other steps to prove that you comply with thorny and complicated copyright laws.”
Twitch also claimed streamers will “very likely have to contend with the false positives associated with such measures, and it would also limit what content we can make available to viewers in the EU.”
This means you could lose European viewers thanks to Article 13, even if you are streaming in the USA.
Andy Barr, founder and MD of www.10yetis.co.uk, described the passing stringent copyright laws online as “real headache” for these online platforms.
He said: “Channels such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will have to police uploads even more carefully to ensure content uploaded by its users doesn’t violate anything outlined in Article 13, or else be held accountable in some way.
“They therefore may have to build even more robust and intelligent upload filters, which could be both time consuming and expensive.
“How exactly these systems will be able to differentiate between prohibited content and light-hearted, spoof postings is anyone’s guess.”
Article 13 will not come into law immediately, however.
The countries comprising the EU must now accept Article 13 and its associated articles and directives, leaving room for amendments and other changes.
So Article 13 will not officially come into effect until 2021.