Article 13 for Americans (By an American)

optimistphan:

Hello there my fellow Americans! Hope you’re all enjoying your constitutional rights and stuff. Thankfully, I’m not here today to talk about someone trying to take away OUR rights. I’m here to talk about the EU. 

Now, many of you may tune out here and say “Oh, that’s on the other side of the world. That doesn’t affect me.” but it does. According to the memes lately, many Americans have chosen to ignore the people who had their backs during our failed Net Neutrality fight when they needed it the most. The point of this post is to explain why Article 13 matters, even to Americans or someone anywhere else in the world than the EU. 

As an American, I honestly don’t know too much about the workings of European governments, so I’m going to try to keep it short and link to more descriptive and researched posts to read. This is just an attention grabber. Please let me know if I’ve misspoken about any concept of the article. 

Article 13 is a new law passed by the EU (European Union). It’s partnered with Article 11, another law that’s problematic on a lesser scale. Both of these are part of the EU Copyright Directive. The point is to protect copyrighted material on the Internet, which sounds good in theory, but really it’ll leave a disastrous footprint on the Internet, especially fandoms. 

Article 13 will force social media websites like Tumblr to monitor their content with filters to make sure there’s no copyright infringement. These filters will be very expensive to produce and may put some smaller sites out of business. They’re also going to be computer filters running on algorithms, which means they’re going to be imperfect and may delete some things that are not to be deleted. 

The boundaries of copyright infringement are also very unclear. We’ve heard from the OTW, the legal team at Ao3, who have been in contact with the EU throughout this process, that fanfiction and fanart will hopefully remain untouched since they are legal now. However, there is no guarantee, and the filters may accidentally delete things that aren’t meant to be deleted. 

Some of you may be saying, “So what? I’m American; my content is fine.” Maybe so, but that doesn’t mean it won’t affect you. Let me make this clear: They’re banning memes. Europeans won’t be able to make or see many memes. Also, maybe your content won’t be deleted, but your European followers may not be able to see it. And if they can’t see your content, why would they follow you? Expect your follow counts to drop. And if you’re not into posting content, the consumer’s side isn’t pretty either. If your favorite content creator happens to be from the EU, you could be out of luck. That includes YouTubers like Dan and Phil and Jacksepticeye. 

Yes, gaming channels are in danger. 

If a gaming YouTuber plays a game without receiving full copyright, which would definitely be quite expensive, it is in danger of being deleted. 

Americans, this may not destroy your content, but it CAN and WILL destroy your Internet, your Tumblr, and your fandoms. 

The rest of the world joined in our fight for Net Neutrality. It’s time for us to join the EU in their fight against Article 13. 

A friend of a friend has already had their profile picture removed on Google because it was a picture of the Pokemon Eevee. 

Act now, before the Internet loses more than profile pictures. 

Here are some links for more information (which, by the way, under Article 13, would cost money to link.) There’s even more links and information within these. 

A Two Part Analysis – Part 1 + Part 2 by @daisy-oreilly-fti
Details from OTW – Posted by @xstonehill
The Original Circulating Post (With Addition Posted by Ao3) – Posted by @labambinafantasma
The Phandom Shitpost (With Additional Information by my Good Friend @turquoisespace) – Posted by @yourdailydanandphil
Petition – Can be Signed by Anyone!! 
Call/Email Your MPs – Only for Europeans!!