Today, the EU Parliament made arguably one of the most stupid decisions in the history of the internet, and passed the controversial Article 13. This brings an end to freedom of speech, memes, and for many, a career out of youtube and twitch. This now means that websites will be enforced to put filters on any images that are owned by companies, and make them liable for infringing Copyright Laws. To combat this, these filters will detect any images etc that belong to a company, and are not being used with permission from that company. It's a truly dark day for the internet, and I may be overdramatic with this, but this will change everything on the internet. Start stockpiling memes while you can boys.
I like to hope that once it’s enforced, they will realize just what a retarded idea it is and either remove it entirely or change it. We can only hope though.
I should note that the directive has yet to pass the Council of Ministers, who have the final say. This is made up of ministers from every EU Government, and requires a large proportion of them to vote for it. Also let's not exaggerate the effects of this - it will not be an end to memes. However the issues around a link tax and upload filters are still problems, but this is not the end of the internet as we know it or the end of free speech
of course, for the most part. but now people will see why we should've left much long ago! the european union is a totalitarian state in development, They meddle elections and are now trying to extensively limit privacy so They can control Their shitty federal superstate. i'm glad this catastrophe is blowing right back in Their face.