EU Copyright Directive Final Text Threatens Free Internet
European negotiators finalize a controversial copyright directive that mandates upload filters and imposes a link tax on news snippets. The law stands to fundamentally alter how the internet functions if it passes the final vote.
European negotiators conclude closed-door trilogue discussions and reveal the final text of the highly controversial EU Copyright Directive. After two years of debate over Articles 11 and 13, the proposed law promises to fundamentally change the internet as we know it if it survives the upcoming final vote.
Article 13 forces commercial platforms to preemptively license all potentially copyrighted content and deploy automated upload filters to block unauthorized material. Because these filters are inherently expensive and error-prone, platforms face massive liability that inevitably leads to over-censorship and severe restrictions on freedom of speech.
Article 11 introduces a broad "link tax" that requires licenses for reproducing more than single words or very short extracts from news stories. This provision creates deep legal uncertainty around hyperlinking with snippets and affects a much wider range of websites than previous failed versions in Germany, with no exceptions provided for independent services.