You may have seen people on Twitter using the hashtag #SaveYourInternet and not know the significance of it. For YouTube content creators, or even people who enjoy watching YouTube content, it’s of vital importance.
The hashtag was kicked off by YouTube, who addressed the issue of copyright in a video titled ‘Article 13 – Burning Questions’, earlier this month.
Article 13 is a part of proposed legislation “created with the intent to better protect creativity”, is due to be made into law in the European Parliament by the end of the year. The EU intends to protect the content of copyright holders – a goal which YouTube agrees with working towards.
YouTube takes issue with the legislation however, saying that it will ultimately harm content creators living in the European Union. According to YouTube it will “create large unintended consequences” and threaten “hundreds of thousands of creators, artists, and others employed in the creative economy”.
In the video, Matt from YouTube asserts that should the legislation pass, YouTube would have no choice but to block “millions of existing and new” content in the EU until the content creators could prove they own everything in the video – including visuals and sounds. He explains this would include: “Educational videos, lots of official music videos, fan music covers, and mash-ups, parodies, and more”.
The proposed version of Article 13 would hold websites hosting the video liable for copyright infringement, not just the person who broke the copyright guidelines.
This would also apparently affect viewers from outside the EU, who would be unable to watch the content of their favourite European YouTubers.
YouTube implores its users to make their voices heard and tweet about the issue. Article 13 is not yet part of European law.
Article 13 has been discussed by YouTubers such as The Fine Bros and Philip DeFranco, who are very critical of Article 13.
You can read the legislation in full here (it’s only 240 words long) and do your research before making their mind up on whether or not you agree with this piece of legislation.
Tell us what you think! Share your thoughts and join the conversation over on Twitter @aAh_mag
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