Recently, I've been following the developments of a proposal by the European Commission, regarding the implementation of a link tax and requiring websites to add upload filters (aka censorship machines). The proposal in its current form, could have a significant impact on the relatively free transfer of data that we enjoy today. It could possibly serve to limit freedom of expression and it will most definitely have a big negative impact on independent creators.
Article 11 - Link Tax
The EU wants to give publishers ownership to the rights of every part of their publications. Meaning that royalty fees may have to be paid when snippets or headlines are shared together with a link to the original article. This would be quite detrimental to websites that allow users to share links freely, Reddit and Twitter come to mind. Not to mention the limitations it could have on freedom of speech from the citizen's perspective.
It's not fully clear yet what sort of snippets will be included in the new law, as there is still quite a bit of discussion among the EU member states. They might allow for a differentiation between substantial and insubstantial text snippets.
Article 13 - Upload Filters
Websites that allow users to add content will have to implement upload filters to automatically detect and remove possible copyright infringement. It's not exactly clear how they would differentiate between copyrighted content in accordance with fair use** and content that is in violation of copyright laws.
**Note: Fair use doesn't actually exist in Europe, the situation is more complicated. There are different laws that do allow for the use of copyrighted material for certain purposes (education, critique, etc).
Possible Implications
One of my biggest worries is that this would basically hinder the creation of new platforms. Established social media websites can implement the necessary changes more easily, while it would mean a huge additional cost for startups.
Just the basic idea of upload filters is a very bad one. Would you trust an automated system to pick out violations effectively? Just look at Youtube to see how well that sort of thing is working. There are already laws in place to take action against copyright infringement, so I don't see how an additional overcomplicated system like this is needed on top of that.
The idea of a link tax sounds very familiar to me, I think I have a pretty good idea where that came from. Newspapers have been fighting a long battle against news aggregators such as Google News, demanding Google pay them royalties over the use of text snippets. The newly proposed link tax seems like it's in direct response to that.
How to Stop it?
MEP Julia Reda has been very outspoken against these new proposals in their current form. She recently held an AMA on Reddit where she called upon internet users to voice their concerns to the European Commission through savethelink.org. Do sign it if you have 2 minutes to spare!
Sources
http://www.europarl.europa.eu
https://juliareda.eu/2018/05/censorship-machines-link-tax-finish-line/
https://blog.github.com/2018-03-14-eu-proposal-upload-filters-code/
https://savethelink.org