A major turning point has arrived in how media can be shared and propagated online. Today the European Parliament has approved the [Copyright Directive](http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20180906IPR12103/parliament-adopts-its-position-on-digital-copyright-rules) at 438 for and 226 against. This will update and expand online copyright laws, and change the landscape of how big and small companies can use information from other sites.

<center><img src="https://i.imgur.com/r6sa9Mh.jpg" /><br/><em><sub><a href="https://pixabay.com/en/copyright-symbol-intellectual-30343/">Source</a>, <a href="https://www.maxpixel.net/Gdpr-Data-Privacy-Technology-Security-Europe-3220208">Source</a></sub></em></center>

The Copyright Directive had a first attempt at being approved in July, but was shot down due to criticism of Articles 11 and 13 which have been called the link tax and upload filter, respectively. This time around, modifications were made with Articles 11 and 13 amended to apparently make it more appeasing. A final vote is coming in January 2019, but experts say it's unlikely to be rejected there either. Then EU members states get to choose how they interpret the directive as a law.

Articles 11 and 13 are the core of the Copyright Directive. Article 11, the 'link tax' is about how links to content is used. Publishers and papers are going to be able to demand paid licenses from other sites if they want to be able to use their news stories.

The biggest target is Google, with news sites not liking how Google News uses their news stories. They don't want to let Google have a link to their site with the news story as the link title, without getting paid for it of course. This is imposing a 'tax' of sorts on sites like Google News for being able to share news story content.

Article 13 is another restriction on how sites can use content to stop them from sharing unlicensed copyright material. The big targets in this case are Facebook and YouTube. Whereas Google is only using the name of the news story and linking to the sites for people to go read, Facebook and YouTube content often has copyrighted content be shared or used in videos. The copyright owners want the money to roll in for people using it, even if they aren't making money, as YouTube and Facebook do make money from people using their site.

Dubbed the 'upload filter', companies would have to proactively work to stop users from uploading copyright content. Sites would then have to scan all the data that gets uploaded in order to make sure it's not copyrighted. This will impose a burden, especially on smaller sites. This could lead to even more censorship.

Advocates for the Copyright Directive dismiss any concerns as fearmongering by big tech companies that want to keep control over their platforms. Exemptions have been made to allow sites like Github and Wikipedia to allow sharing of hyperlinks and individual words that describe the articles.

But, what about everyone else? The EU has sanctioned copyright violations things like sharing links and using words from media articles. Sharing content will be heavily impacted. Forget about Facebook sharing of content, pictures and links. The copyright police will take it down, or even ban you for doing what the platform was intended to do. This could spell the death of Facebook and online social media sharing in general.

The impact the Copyright Directive will have if approved in January 2019 are far reaching. The extent of how it will be applied has yet to be seen. Maybe it won't be so bad, but the potential can be grave. It might disrupt the whole way most people use the internet now, fracturing the popularity of social media.

Note that Steemit Inc. updated it's ToS earlier this year, saying it would comply with EU laws. I think they foresaw the potential application of the Copyright Directive when it was being drafted and first rejected. This means anyone who is or has been posting copyrighted material through Steemit Inc. could face issues. Maybe Steemit Inc. will just filter out posts or media that violates EU laws, who knows.

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References:
- [EU approves controversial Copyright Directive, including internet ‘link tax’ and ‘upload filter’](https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/12/17849868/eu-internet-copyright-reform-article-11-13-approved)
- [Parliament adopts its position on digital copyright rules ](http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20180906IPR12103/parliament-adopts-its-position-on-digital-copyright-rules)

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