Europe’s controversial overhaul of online copyright receives final approval

The European Parliament has given final approval to the Copyright Directive, a controversial package of legislation designed to update copyright law in Europe for the internet age.

Members of parliament voted 348 in favor of the law and 274 against. A last-minute proposal to remove the law’s most controversial clause — Article 13 or the ‘upload filter’ — was narrowly rejected by just five votes. The directive will now be passed on to EU member states, who will translate it into national law.

Advocates of the directive say it will balance the playing field between US tech giants and European content creators, giving copyright holders more power over how big internet platforms distribute their content. But critics say the law is vague and poorly thought-out, and will end up restricting how content is shared online, stifling innovation and free speech.

Politicians have debated the legislation for more than two years, with fierce lobbying from tech giants, copyright holders, and digital rights activists. But despite setbacks, the most controversial clauses of the Copyright Directive — Article 11 or the ‘link tax’ and Article 13 or the ‘upload filter’ — have remained largely intact.

Article 11 lets publishers charge platforms like Google News when they display snippets of news stories, while Article 13 (renamed Article 17 in the most recent draft of the legislation) gives sites like YouTube new duties to stop users from uploading copyrighted content.

In both cases, critics say these well-intentioned laws will create trouble. Article 13, they say, will lead to the widespread introduction of “upload filters,” that will scan all user content uploaded to sites to remove copyrighted material. The law does not explicitly call for such filters, but critics say it will be an inevitability as sites seek to avoid penalties.

Experts say any filters introduced will likely be error-prone and ineffective. They also note that given the cost of deploying such filters, the law may have the opposite effect to politicians’ intent — solidifying the dominance of US tech giants over online spaces.

Tens of thousands of individuals across Europe protested the directive, and more than five million signed a petition calling for Article 13 to be removed from the law. Julia Reda, an MEP for the German Pirate Party who led much opposition to the directive, said it was a “dark day for internet freedom.”

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