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Article 13 and the future of our internet

I’m sure you have seen this topic over and over again pretty much everywhere in the past month or so, but it’s probably one of the most important and serious matters ever discussed online. Article 13 is going to affect not only creators from Europe, but basically the entire world if it gets approved the way it is. Please keep reading if you want to know more and take part in our movement to stop this madness from happening before it gets too late.

We thought we would never face something of these proportions. “Tha’s impossible”, “they can’t just destroy social media”, “nah, it won’t be as bad as everyone claims”, these were our thoughts when Article 13 spread around.

The moment platforms like YouTube, Tumblr and WordPress itself officially exposed their concerns about the possibility of seeing this proposal becoming an actual law, that’s when we realized this may actually be way bigger and definitely more dangerous than we expected.

In September the European Parliament voted and even approved an amended version of the EU copyright law (rejected in July) and despite our concerns about the future of internet as we know and love it, the European Commission keeps brushing them off affirming creators will still be able to do what they always did until now. But what is this article about exactly and why are we all rioting against it with fervor?

Article 13 was designed to “protect” creators by limiting copyrighted content and the way it’s used/shared on social media. Defending someone’s work from plagiarism and inappropriate usage is good, but if this has to affect the entire internet and every European creator with strict boundaries destroying their freedom of speach or creativity, that’s when you know it is going too far and beyond what was originally intended.
The current written article is too generic, meaning it doesn’t matter if you record a vlog of yourself talking about life, should you wear a shirt with an official logo in that video you may still risk to see your upload blocked because you do not have the rights on that specific brand. Stupid, right? Our beloved platforms surely cannot process all the videos and posts people make daily and if you as a creator were the one getting a strike on YouTube or reported for copyright violation, with this law it will just be the platform’s responsibility instead (and you surely are aware of the amount of people registered on these sites).

Memes, Google Images, streamed or recorded gameplays, blogs, fanarts, fanfictions, vlogs, reviews, documentaries, music, parodies. This and much more will be heavily restricted, which means a lot of content creators may also see their career and only source of income permanently destroyed.

If you are not resided in Europe, this law will still affect you and your work in many ways. All those artists and video makers from Italy, Germany, etc you like and constantly follow? You will no longer see their content posted. All those fanfictions you enjoy reading? Forget about seeing them finished or written at all. The views you get on your site or channel from European users? No more. See where this is going?

We do not have much power to win against this life changing reform, but we can still fight with our voice. Sign this petition if you haven’t already, spam your accounts with the hashtag #SaveYourInternet, contact your MEP.

There isn’t much time left, guys. All the sites you hold dear and use for your work could no longer offer you the freedom you have now and the incredible content you are used to see. YouTube, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, Patreon and any other platform allowing you to post and share stuff will be forced to block your pages and prevent you from uploading anything else (people won’t be able to view it from outside the EU either).

Let’s fight together against Article 13, let’s protect our internet from a drastic filtering that will most certainly create an irreparable damage rather than helping creators.

UPDATE 3/21: On March 26 there will be the final vote for this change. Please do all you can to save the internet as we know it!!
FINAL UPDATE: As you may already know, the Article has been officially approved, although it looks like at least 13 MEPs voted wrong due to their misunderstanding (or distraction). There is no real way to predict what will happen to our Internet after this, but the States involved still need to review the directive and the EU votes in May will most likely have a huge impact as well. It will also take at least a couple years before implementing the new law officially in our Countries, let’s hope the Article will be changed enough by then.

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