New Reports Show That The Lawmakers Behind Articles 11 and 13 Really Don’t Understand How The Internet Works

Techdirt has published two insightful reports that reveal just how out of touch the lawmakers behind Articles 11 (the link tax) and 13 (the meme ban) are when it comes to the impact these directives will have on the internet.

If you’re not familiar with these directives, you can read a full breakdown here but the TLDR is that Article 11 will require a license to be obtained when sharing links with more than a few words from the original text and Article 13 will require all online platforms that publish user-generated content to install a costly upload filter which is likely to block commentary, parody, and other types of content that use copyrighted material under fair use laws. If passed, these directives will permanently damage internet culture as we know it, greatly prohibit the sharing of information online, and destroy most small, independent online platforms inside the EU (European Union).

The overwhelming online consensus is that Articles 11 and 13 are not good. The petition to stop Article 13 has 4.8 million signatures and has become the biggest petition in European history. Almost all online discussions surrounding Articles 11 and 13 firmly oppose these directives.

While the directives themselves are shocking, what’s even more alarming is that these Techdirt reports reveal that the European lawmakers who are pushing for these changes, which could permanently damage internet culture, have absolutely no understanding of internet culture or even how the internet works.

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